THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE WILDERNESS AND ITS TENANTS

THE

WILDERNESS AND ITS TENANTS

A SERIES OF

GEOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ESSAYS
ILLUSTRATIVE OF LIFE IN A WILD COUNTRY

TOGETHER WITH

EXPERIENCES AND OBSERVATIONS

CULLED FROM THE GREAT BOOK OF NATURE

IN MANY LANDS

BY

JOHN MADDEN

»>

IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. II

LONDON
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co., LTD.

STATIONERS HALL COURT
1897

(All rights reserved)

BIOlOGt

CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME

CHAPTER

VIII. THE REGION OF THE GREAT

PLAINS Pages i — 1 06

IX. THE GREAT FOREST REGION

OF THE TEMPERATE ZONE . „ 107 — 240

X. THE ARCTIC OR POLAR ZONE „ 241 — 370

XL THE REGION OF THE GREAT

MOUNTAIN RANGES ... „ 371 — 462

XII. THE GREAT RIVER SYSTEMS . „ 463 — 566

M374397

The Wilderness and Its Tenants.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE REGION OF THE GREAT PLAINS.

Their Geographical Limits and Enormous Extent. Their Climates.
The Land of the Lemon Tree. Scriptural Description of Gardens. Why
there are no Forests on the Plains. The American Eastern Forest
Region. Sudden Cessation of Forest Growths. Resemblance of Great
Plains to a Stormy Sea turned into Land. Bird's-eye View of Great
Plains. Buttes. Steering a Course across the Grassy Sea. Influence
of the Vast Expanse upon the Human Mind. Influence of City Life
in Dwarfing the Mental Energies. Necessity for Habits of Observation
in a Traveller. Influence of Wide Plains on the History of Nations.
The Peopling of the Great West. The Great Buffalo Range of
North America. The Plains Indians. The White Man and the Red.
Border Warfare. The Pampas. Pampas Indians and Indian Raids.
Their Tactics — Driving Loose Horses. Horses as an Article of Food.
The Gauchos. The Spanish Barb Horse. Re-introduction of the
Horse by the Spaniards. The Fossil Horse of South America. Spanish
Cattle. Buffalo Hunting on the North American Plains. Extinction
of the Buffalo as a Wild Animal. Skin Hunters — "Taking a Stand."
Habits of the Buffalo. Hybrid Buffalo — Their Reputed Excellence.
Cattle and Buffalo on the Plains during Blizzards. Buffalo in Snow
Time. Reindeer Feeding in Deep Snow. Advent of the Great Snows.
Their Condition and Action as a Protection to Vegetation. Ptar-
migan or Snow Grouse. Birds flying into Snow Drifts. Climates of
the Plains. Sudden Alternations of Heat and Cold. "The Indian
Summer" in North America. The Plains Region as a "Health Resort."
Climate of the British Islands contrasted with similar Latitudes else-
where. Climates of Labrador, Canada and Russia. Influence of Climatic
Conditions upon the Human Race. Sunstroke rare upon the Plains.
Erroneous Accounts of Plains Territory given by the Early Explorers.
The Reclamation of Waste Lands by Stock. Springing up of Natural
Pasture Grasses. Influence of Novel Pastures upon the Health of Stock.
Influence of Great Herds in Modifying Pastures. Cattle and Sheep in
Australia. What Can be Done with a Pound of Wool. Saline Rivers

VOL. II. I

2 THE REGION OF THE GREAT PLAINS.

and Lagoons. "El gran Seco" in Rio La Plata. Why Fresh Waters
turn Salt. Wild Animals driven by Thirst. A Hare Drinks out of a
Water Vessel held by an Officer. The Plains Rivers. Their Extreme
Flatness Exaggerated. Panoramas viewed from Eminences. Mountain
Streams Disappearing in the Plain. Timbered Margins of Streams.
Crossing Prairie Streams. Sand Streams — Dangerous Nature of. Great
Herds of Buffalo lost in Crossing Rivers. Quicksands. Terrible Death
in a Quicksand. Swamps. Blind Lakes. Ravines. Malaria in Ravines.
"Divides" — Their Importance to Travellers. Buffalo Paths following
Divides. River Bottoms. Great Canons. "The Process of Erosion."
Crossing a Canon, Ancient Passes known to the Indians. Descent
into a Cafion. The Great Walls of Rock. Voyage through a Canon.
Sudden Flood in a dry Canon. Great Lines of Cliffs, or "Bluffs."
" Subsidence" as the Creative Power of Bluffs. Natural Terraces.
Table Lands. The Great Thibetan and Peruvian Table Lands. The
Plains Grasses. Pampas Thistles and Cardoons. The Prairie Indians.
Border Wars. Attacks on Emigrant Trains. Border Anecdotes. A
Stage Driver in the Apache Country. Frontier Settlers. Indians
Following and Watching Waggon. Trains. Indian Attacks and Surprises.
A Scout's Prophecy. Destruction of General Custer's Command.
Barbarities of Savage Warfare. Torture of Prisoners. The Fiery Ordeal.
The Solitary Indian on the Plains. The White Man Lost on the Prairie.
Indian Military Genius and War Tactics. Honesty in the Repayment
of Debts.

THE Region of The Great Plains forms the fourth
of the great territorial divisions into which our
world is divided — and one of them extends, in either
hemisphere, northwards and southwards, beyond the
polar margins of the Desert Zones. Their position
therefore begins at about the 3oth parallel of North
and South Latitude, and it may be taken as extending
to the 5oth parallel. The great plains thus cover an
enormous extent of territory, especially in the northern
hemisphere — for, as a glance at the map will show,
the earth's territorial surface is greatly restricted in
area between these parallels in the southern hemisphere,
in consequence of the vast preponderance of ocean
there. " The Region of The Great Plains " comprise within
their boundaries the vast area of steppe, in southern
Russia and Asia, which beginning from near the mouth

THE REGION OF THE GREAT PLAINS. 3

of the Danube, extends in an almost unbroken surface
to the great wall of China, in the far east. So also
in the new world, the celebrated prairie region of
North America represents this division there, as do
the Pampas in the corresponding position of the southern
hemisphere in South America. The Algerian Tell and
Plateau Region in North Africa, the great plains of the
Cape Colony in South Africa, and the vast pasture country
in Australia, all lie within what we have ventured to
describe as " The Region of The Great Plains. " Here
too, some of the most celebrated of the great hunting
countries of both the old and especially of the new world
were located ; where in former days, still within the memory
of many persons now living, heavy game of many kinds
was to be found, roaming in what would now seem to be
incredible numbers. We need only refer to the works of
Captain Cornwallis Harris, Mr. Gordon Cumming, and
others, to obtain an idea of the vast numbers and variety
of animals that were to be found in that sportsman's
paradise, the great game country of South Africa. While
a mass of literature too numerous even to mention, has
described the enormous herds of buffalo that frequented
the prairies of the Far West; from which the modern
sportsman can form some idea of the magnificence of
the sport which used to be enjoyed in these countries
in former days. As for ourselves, we have done our
best to endeavour to collect numerous curious details
and facts respecting them, which will be found elsewhere
in this work. *

Unfortunately, what with the introduction of breach-
loading firearms, and the increased facilities of communi-

* See the Chapter on "Great Herds of Game" and the section on
"Hunting and Shooting on Plains," in Volume iii.

4 PLAINS CLIMATES.

cation, the buffalo, and other great game of the North
American prairies, seem now to be almost extinct; in
South Africa too, the heavy game has, in the same
way, been gradually driven further and further to the
northward, until what remains of it is now rather to-
be found in the Bush Country, beyond the Desert Zone,
than upon the plains to the southward, which used
to be their favourite resort.

The climate of the Great Plains, as might be expected
in so vast an extent of territory, varies considerably
in its character, according to the locality. In the
higher latitudes, the winters are often exceedingly
severe, but on their equatorial margins the climate
naturally partakes more or less of the dry climate of
the adjoining Desert Zone, large tracts of these plains
becoming desiccated during the summer season ; so as
to become veritable deserts for the time being.

It is to be understood however, that we have now
reached a latitude where we are beyond the influence
of the tropical rains, and divided from them by the
rainless belt of the Desert Zone. In the Great Plains
country, therefore, there is no longer any regular " rainy
season," properly so called. We are now in the region of
variable rains, and this characteristic becomes gradually
more and more marked as we proceed towards the
poles. On the side adjoining the desert, the summers
are often exceedingly hot and dry; but the approach
of winter is generally accompanied by a copious
rainfall and a regular cold season. The rains are
however of an intermittent character, so that droughts
of a serious nature sometimes alternate with floods of
an equally disastrous kind; but during favourable
seasons all this country is covered with a luxuriant

THE SCRIPTURE ON THE PLAINS OF PALESTINE. 5

vegetation — excellent pasture grasses cover the plains-
fine timber also begins to appear along the water
courses: indeed this part of the world, from its generally
soft and salubrious climate, brilliant sunshine, and
more or less abundant rainfall, is capable of being
turned into a regular garden, in which under a proper
system of cultivation, most of the finest fruits and
flowers, and other of the choicest productions of the
tropics, can be acclimatized and produced in extra-
ordinary variety and excellence. It is therefore to this
portion of the earth's surface that these beautiful lines
translated from Goethe may, as we conceive, be held
most closely to apply, where he says —

•" Know'st thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,
Where the gold orange glows, in the deep thicket's gloom;
Where a wind ever soft, from the blue heaven blows,
And the groves are of laurel, and myrtle, and rose." '

Many striking descriptions are also to be found in
The Scriptures, illustrative of the horticultural . luxuri-
ance of gardens situated in Bible lands, in the midst
of the wide plains of Palestine which form part of
what we have designated The Region of the Great
Plains in that part of the world, and Solomon the
King thus sings of their glories—
" For lo, the winter is past ; the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear upon the earth,
The time of the singing of birds is come:
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grape give a good smell,
Arise my love, my fair one, and come away." f

* Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, Book iii., Ch. i. (Harriett's
JFamiliar Quotations).

f The Song of Solomon, ch. ii., verses ti to 13.

6 THE GREAT TREELESS PLAINS.

"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh
And to the hill of frankincense." *

" Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits ;
Camphire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, with all

trees of frankincense ;

Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams

from Lebanon.

Awake, O North wind; and come, thou South;
Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. " f

It is, however, not with the luxuriant beauty of their
cultivated portions, but rather with these great plains
in their sterner aspects, as a wild country, that these
volumes more particularly profess to treat.

The bare appearance which the absence of trees
from the landscape has imparted to the plains country,
and the serious inconvenience which the want of fuel
sometimes occasions, has often exercised the minds of
geographical observers to discover the reason why
trees do not grow there. It is evidently not because
the land is incapable of growing them; because as
soon as trees are planted, and protected by settlers,
they are found in general to grow remarkably well.
It has therefore sometimes been supposed that the
absence of trees is caused by fires, owing to the fre-
quent practice of the natives in the plains countries
of firing the grass in the dry season; and it may be
that to a certain extent this may sometimes account
for their absence; yet trees are to be found growing
in so many positions along the banks of streams, and

* The Song of Solomon, ch. iv., verse 6.
| Ibid, ch. iv., verses 13 to 16.

CAUSES OF THE WANT OF TREE GROWTH. 7

other situations, where the fires can, and do, come in
among them, that this theory can hardly be accepted
as altogether satisfactory. We therefore believe it to
be due to certain peculiarities of climate more than to
any other cause. Dry and cutting winds, prolonged
droughts, the porous nature of the soil, and consequent
scarcity of surface water, probably all contribute to
produce this result. The erection of buildings, fences,
and other shelter, and the fostering care of man, as
soon as the country is settled, seem, however, as we
have said, sufficient to cause trees to grow where
none were ever known to grow before.

But the circumstance which seems to point most
strongly to some climatic cause, is the fact, that the
neighbourhood of the ocean, and the consequent pre-
valence of an indraught of water-bearing winds, deprived
of the exceedingly dry and cutting nature which char-
acterizes the land breezes, generally has the effect of
causing the plains country to disappear, and a land of
forests to take its place, not only on the seaboard,
but sometimes for a considerable distance inland, in
regions which further back consist of entirely open
plains. A notable instance of this is found on the
eastern seaboard of the United States, the whole of
which was formerly a great forest country which ex-
tended very often for a great distance inland, and
then suddenly from some unexplained cause the forest
country ended, and the prairie or plains country took
its place, and extended, with almost unbroken sequence
to the Rocky Mountains. The same thing is seen on
the Pacific coast, and also to a great extent in South
America; except in saline districts the "Pampas"
rarely reach the coast. In South Africa, and Australia,

8 CROSSING THE GRASSY SEA.

the same rule seems generally to hold good, and where
want of water and a sterile soil does not prevent it,
the coast line is in general well wooded, either with
trees or bush, except where the prevailing winds are
very keen.

After traversing the coast region of forest however,
one is often surprised to find how suddenly the trees
cease, and the wooded country gives place to open
grassy plains — the horizon often extending, as at sea,
to the sky line, without a single prominent object to
catch the eye: so that the resemblance to the ocean,
with which every traveller is impressed, is perhaps on
the whole often more complete upon the plains than
even in the desert — indeed, if we might venture to
hazard a guess upon this subject, we should say that
great tracts of apparently level country are more
common upon the great plains than anywhere else.
Those who have travelled much upon the South Amer-
ican "Pampas" can hardly fail to have been struck
with the boundless extent of flat plains which are to
be met with there.

Nevertheless it would be a great mistake to suppose
that such a description conveys a faithful picture of
the great plains in general, because in so vast a region
almost every variety of country is to be found, and as
an enormous area consists of undulating ground, the
resemblance to the ocean here frequently reappears by
the succession of undulations, very much like the heavy
rollers seen upon the sea after a severe gale.

Considerable tracts of level country also occur, dotted
over with hillocks, rising abruptly out of the plain, in
some cases to a height of 50 or 60 feet ; from the crest
of one of these eminences, or " buttes" as they are

DISTANT PANORAMAS SEEN UPON THE PLAINS. 9

called by plains men, a solemn and impressive spec-
tacle may frequently be witnessed, as the eye travels
over the boundless expanse, without a single living
object to be seen anywhere upon it, which stretches
forth in silent and desolate grandeur, until it melts into
the sky line. Nowhere can the vastness and solitude
of the great plains, and the insignificance of the human
atom which crawls across their surface, be more fully
realized, than when seen from such a point of vantage.
In such a situation, the prairie traveller frequently has
to steer his course in the required direction, exactly
like the navigating officer of an ocean steamer, bound
across the Atlantic ; and he will of course ascend one
of these eminences occasionally, to observe the lie
of the country in advance, to look out for game, and
last but not least, it may be, to keep a vigilant watch
for signs of a possible human enemy.

In the Indian country this last duty was often a very
anxious one, and kept a constant strain upon the facul-
ties. Under no circumstances indeed does the mind
become more quickly and efficiently trained to habits
of unceasing vigilance and observation. Every little
incident, however trivial, is at once noted. Anything
in motion at once attracts the eye, and the trained
vision of the experienced plainsman will make out
objects in the landscape, with unerring certainty, at
what seem to the novice incredible distances. Then
" following a trail" is so large and difficult a question,
that it would require to be specially treated of by itself.

In guiding a course across this grassy sea, wealth,
rank, and book learning, count for little. The safety
of all depends upon the guidance of the man whom
long practice in studying the features of a wild country

10 THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA.

has enabled to read the1 great book of nature, and to
interpret the signs of the wilderness correctly. If
hostile natives are hovering round the , party, he alone
can detect the faintly marked traces of their presence.
All other learning will then appear as so much dross,
even the untutored savage looking down with open
scorn upon the mere man of letters, who without his
aid and guidance would be helpless as a child. And
thus it often comes to pass, that a journey of consider-
able duration across wide plains, such as used to be
common in the great west, in the days of the Cali-
fornian emigrant trains, some 30 or 40 years ago, has
frequently been known to affect the whole character
and cast of thought of a man's subsequent life.

Before the long march, then of months' duration, has
come to an end, he has acquired a spirit of resource and
self-reliance, habits of trained observation which he never
afterwards loses, and which frequently prove invaluable
to him in after years, if he uses his opportunities aright.

In the turmoil of life in a great city, fashion exer-
cises so powerful an influence that men actually be-
come like a flock of sheep, which u follow their leader."
Each man blindly falls in with the prevalent custom,
whatever it may be, without questioning — and hence
it comes, most probably, that there is perhaps not
one man in a thousand who ever exercises the faculty
of original thought. In general his ideas are simply
a reflexion of the passing craze of the hour, or of
his social clique, party, or sect. Hence, we often find
in old established communities a particular set of
opinions handed down in succession from father to
son for many generations, as if they were pieces of
family plate, or parcels of real estate.

AMERICAN SETTLERS IN THE GREAT WEST. II

The original thinker indeed, when you find him,
generally turns out to be somewhat of an eccentric.
He must be so in fact, or he would not have ventured
to separate himself from his fellows by adopting new
and probably unpopular opinions.

Travelling through a new country therefore, where
everything is different to what it is at home, often
affords, as we venture to believe, the necessary impetus
to the mental faculties which makes a man think.
There, he must keep his eyes open, and observe, if
he would get along at all. This theory would seem
to receive a large amount of support from the well-
known and remarkably inventive capacity of the Ameri-
can people. It seems hard to come to any other
conclusion, than that this genius has been mainly
developed by the ready resource which a familiarity
with the shifts and expedients of wild life entails.

It was in the western backwoods that Washington
learnt his business as a soldier, and laid the foundations
of that great reputation which has rendered his name
immortal. It was in the great prairie region of the
Far West, that almost all the United States Army
Officers, who rose to eminence or renown in the Civil
War (1861 — 1866), acquired that military training and
experience upon which their subsequent fame was
built up. It was there also that most of the European
immigrants, who during the present century have gone
to America in search of fortune, have turned their
footsteps. "Go West, young man," was the universal
formula of advice given to these new-comers upon
landing on the American shores ; and it was in the west
that most of the successful men of the present generation
have risen from poverty to position and affluence.

12 CITY LIFE VERSUS WILD LIFE.

The powerful influence of the Great West upon
their national life and character is admitted by all
thoughtful Americans, and that it has been the school
which has nurtured and produced all that is best and
greatest in American character is a fact which few
people in the United States will be disposed to deny.

On the other hand, the gathering together of a great
population within narrow limits, and the deadening
effects which city life produces upon individual character,
we canaot but think has had a greater influence upon
the history of mankind than is generally supposed:
for it paves the way to that decadence in the national
spirit which produces the decay, and eventual fall
of states; and at the same time it also blunts the
senses, and impairs the physique of the individual man
brought up under such conditions.

We will take just one single point as an illustration
of this. We allude to the widespread prevalence of
"myopia" (short-sight) in the London Board Schools.
Now this is an all-important fact from a national point
of view ; namely that over 60 per cent of the children
attending the Public Elementary Schools of the British
Metropolis have defective vision. To speak with greater
accuracy, out of 8 1 25 children, whose eyes were examined
by order of The Education Department, only 3181
children of both sexes, or 39.15 per cent of the whole,
were possessed of normal vision of both eyes. On
this subject Mr. Brudenell Carter, the well-known
oculist, makes the following comments (necessarily
greatly abbreviated) in his report:

" I feel certain that this (defective vision) must be attributed
chiefly, if not entirely, to the conditions of their lives and
surroundings. The visual power of London children is riot

DEFECTIVE VISION OF CITY CHILDREN. 13

cultivated by their environment. They see the other side of
the street, and the carts and omnibuses of the thoroughfares,
but they scarcely ever have the visual attention drawn to
any object difficult to see. A country child has an expanse
of landscape before him, presenting numerous objects rendered
small by distance, many of them disguised by resemblance
in colour to their surroundings, and requiring close scrutiny
in order that they may be distinguished, and so the country
child is not affected in the same degree by this subnormal
power of sight." *

Now contrast these observations with what we have
to say upon the marvellously acute vision of some of
the wild tribes among the Arabs and the Prairie In-
dians; and see how the narrow, squalid influences of
a city life cramps and mars the natural gifts conferred
by a beneficent Nature upon her children.

This digression into questions of historical and political
polemics not unnaturally arises when we consider the
extraordinary rapidity with which what was so recently
"The Wild West" is being settled, and filled up, by
swarms of emigrants from all quarters, and what an
important influence such a result is sure to exercise
upon the future of the human race.

The whole of the great prairie region of North Am-
erica is in fact now parcelled out into states and terri-
tories, all of which possess a rapidly growing popula-
tion; where 30 years ago, there was no one, and where
in place of human populations, immense herds of buf-
falo ranged over tracts of wild country of then unknown
and boundless extent ; a great deal of which had rarely
or never been traversed by the foot of the White man.

* Precis of Extract from Article in the Times of July 17, 1896, p. 8,
on "Defective Vision in the Public Schools." (Mr. Carter even goes
so far as to advise " Seeing Competitions " as a corrective for these
grave defects of vision.)

14 CROSSING THE HOSTILE INDIAN COUNTRY.

So little indeed was then known about this great
region, that it was generally supposed that it would
never become habitable, by anything but the buffalo
and wandering bands of wild Indians, who were
continually roaming over this mighty wilderness, and
warring with each other, and with everyone not a
recognised member of their own tribe.

The Whites clearly saw that this unsettled state of
things would necessarily continue to exist as long as
the Indians themselves existed, because as these wild
tribes lived entirely upon the proceeds of the chase, they
naturally resented the intrusion of strangers into their
hunting grounds, or even their passage by beaten trails
across the plains. Everyone who ventured to explore,
or hunt over their lands, therefore, did so at the peril
of his "scalp," and if a small party was overpowered
by a sudden attack of a superior force of Indians, to
be killed in battle was the very best and happiest
thing that could happen ; for all who fell alive into the
hands of these ruthless warriors were usually put to death
after undergoing an ordeal of torture frightful to con-
template. Neither age nor sex was of any avail to
mitigate the fate of the unfortunate white who unhap-
pily fell into their power. Women, it is true, formed
occasional exceptions; but only after submitting to a
course of nameless outrages, after which they were at
length occasionally received as members of the tribe,
as the wives of their red captors ; but generally in the
end, as soon as the Indians were tired of them, they
too were put to death.

The pitiless warfare that this state of things produced
between the Indians and the Whites may be better
imagined than described. As a rule no quarter was

PRAIRIE AND PAMPAS INDIANS. 15

asked, or granted, on either side. Indeed the saying
(which we have frequently heard expressed) that, " the
only good Indian, is a dead Indian," had at one time
become a regular western proverb. Of course there
could be but one ending to this state of things. The
Whites, constantly recruited by fresh arrivals of bands
of adventurous men, and armed with the improved
form of modern long range firearms, soon made short
work of the Red Skins; who, with the exception of
a few degraded remnants of their wild and warlike
forefathers, have now mostly followed the buffalo, to
what, let us hope, may prove " the happy hunting
grounds" of another and a better country. Meanwhile
the conquering flood of pale-faced warriors has surged
continuously onward, till it has overspread The Region
of The Great Plains from sea to sea, in North America.

The same result has to a great extent followed upon
the Pampas in South America. The word " Pampas"
being simply the Spanish for " Prairies." The Indians
of the South were here bad enough too, at one time,
and it was very dangerous at certain seasons of the
year to cross some districts of country, owing to the
incursions of large bands of these wild people from
the southwards. They, too, killed everyone they met,
and carried off all cattle and horses belonging to the
settlers that they could lay hands on, in the same
way as their fiercer and more warlike namesakes
used to do in North America. But the Indians of The
Pampas could never be compared either in numbers,
or warlike skill, to those of The Prairies; though
they proved troublesome enough to the feeble govern-
ments and slender resources of the South American
Republics. The warrior plainsmen and Indian fighters

1 6 THE POLITICS OF SAVAGE WARFARE.

of the North would probably have swept them out of
existence in one or two campaigns, or else would have
taken such order of them that they would have been
mighty glad to "make a peace," and keep it, for
many a long day afterwards. This we believe, is
always the best and most humane policy in savage
warfare in the long run. Force is the only thing the
red savage, or the oriental native respects. A soft,
milk-and-water, half-hearted course of action, is always
put down to fear, and never to a desire to do justice
or to show mercy. Such a policy is not even understood.

A great deal of the plains country to the southwards
of the main lines of communication from Buenos Ayres
to Mendoza upon the Pampas still remains unsettled, and
owing to the brackish and even salt nature of the rivers,
will probably remain so for many years to come. It was
from this country that the Patagonian Indians used to
issue, when they made their incursions upon the settlers,
and after effecting a valuable seizure they used instantly
to retire into its solitudes, driving the captured stock
before them, rapidly and by forced marches at first, and
as the chances of pursuit diminished, they slackened their
pace, and leisurely retired to their fastnesses in the un-
known wilderness to the southwards. These tactics are
almost identical with those of the Prairie Indians in
Texas, and elsewhere in North America, and like them too,
they were capable of wonderful feats of horsemanship ;
the distances for instance, which they have been known
to accomplish, within twenty-four hours, when closely
pursued have sometimes been such as would appear
almost incredible. On horseback in fact these Indians
were able to do almost anything; and when well

PAMPAS INDIANS ON A FORAY. 17

mounted formed skilful and formidable adversaries;
but on foot they became comparatively helpless, being
indifferent walkers, both slow and awkward in their
movements. It was their habit, when on a foray, to
drive a number of spare horses along with them. Ex-
perience has shown that in a wild country, where grass
is plentiful, this can always be accomplished without
difficulty, horses being under such circumstances very
gregarious, so that there is little danger of their get-
ting lost, or straying, an instinctive dread of the danger
of being separated from their party and left behind
causing them to keep together as much as possible
on the high plains. A horse left behind, will in fact
gallop wildly after the others, until he comes up with
them again. When animals run off, therefore, they
generally do so in a body, in consequence of a sudden
panic, causing a stampede. This is a subject however,
concerning which we shall have more to say hereafter.
Suffice it to say at present, that Indians for these
reasons rarely or never experience any difficulty, in
driving along with them a sufficient number of remounts,
in case of accident to their horses.

The Pampas Indians of South America also eat
horse flesh with as great a relish as we do beef; and
live, whilst on a foray, almost entirely upon mares'
flesh. A number of these animals therefore, are always
brought with them, as slaughter cattle, so that they
are never impeded in their movements by commissariat
difficulties. The comparative scarcity of game on the
Pampas render some arrangement of this kind a matter
of imperative necessity; but these Indians are thus
enabled to travel quickly, and without encumbrance
of any kind, for days or even weeks together, and in

VOL. II. 2

1 8 SOUTH AMERICAN HORSES.

this respect, it struck us that they formed the raw
material for the most mobile light cavalry in the world.

Many of the "Gauchos" (the white plainsmen of 'the
Pampas) will also eat mares' flesh, following the Indian
custom in this respect; and some of them are even
said to prefer certain cuts of it to beef; but apart from
all sentimental considerations, horseflesh has a peculiar
flavour that renders it distasteful to the European
palate; still it is by no means bad, and is quite eatable,
on a pinch. On the great plains of South America,
where horses are so cheap and numerous, mares are rarely
used as beasts of burden; many natives considering it
cruel to work them, even in a country where
sentimentality of this kind can hardly be said to be
prevalent, and mares instead of being worked are
killed. No doubt their supposed inferiority, and also
the enormous numbers of horses of all descriptions
has led to this practice of slaughtering these animals,
for the value of their hides, fat, and bones. In the
great "Saladeros" of Buenos Ayres and elsewhere
mares were formerly slaughtered by thousands, and
probably are so still, just for the value of the animal
products of the carcase, though each of them would,
if landed in Europe, represent a value in most cases,
of from £20 to ^"40, and even ^50. Cattle were also
killed in the same way, and their flesh was salted, dried
and turned into " Charqui, " a hard indigestible substance
like leather, but which was very useful for travellers
crossing the pampas, and which we have often eaten.

Nothing astonishes a new comer to the Plate River
more than this extraordinary waste of valuable stock,
by the wholesale destruction of mares, and a curious
fact in connection with the natural history of the horse,

SPANISH CATTLE. 19

and the rapid increase of these animals in South America,
is also worthy to be noted. For when the Spaniards first
landed on the Plate River, (about 1515) the horse did not
then exist in South America; yet the recent discovery
of the bones of an ancient fossil horse proves that in
remote times horses had existed there, but from some
cause, not now apparent, became extinct, until re-
introduced by the Spaniards. It is to them therefore that
the honour of stocking the New World with both horses
and cattle, is justly due: the horse of the pampas,
which thus far has not been much changed by the
admixture of foreign blood, still retains all the character-
istics of its Spanish origin, and remains to all intents
and purposes a "Spanish Barb/

Then, on the bovine side, the wild cattle of Texas,
both in appearance and disposition, still exhibit strong
traces of their Iberian extraction, as indeed the whole
of the native cattle may be said to do, throughout
La Plata and other parts of South America, and also
in Mexico. Texas, California, etc., where they have
not yet been graded by the admixture of short-horn blood.

On the other hand, the far-famed Buffalo of the
North American prairies is now practically extinct in
its wild state, and must henceforth be struck off the
game list of the prairie country. In the chapter on
great herds of game however, details will be found,
giving an idea of the vast numbers in which this
splendid animal used, within quite recent years, to
roam over the then supposed boundless Western Wilds.
For we have the high authority of Colonel Dodge,
U.S.A., for asserting that, up to " 1871-2 there was appa-
rently no limit to the number of buffalo." *

* Our Wild Indians, by Col. R. J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1882, p. 294.

20 THE PRAIRIE BUFFALO.

Those who, like the writer, have had the privilege
of taking part in the glorious sport of buffalo hunting,
in its palmy days, will however probably always look
back upon those grand scenes in a hunter's life with
mingled feelings of both pride and sorrow. These
things are always a source of pleasure to look upon,
(a pleasure which endures as long as life itself shall
last,) but in this case are unfortunately mingled with
regret, for it is grievous to every true sportsman to
think of the wicked and wholesale slaughter of millions
of these magnificent animals by avaricious traders,
simply for the paltry lucre of their robes. " During
1872-3-4," for instance, according to Col. Dodge, "at
least five millions were slaughtered for their hides."*

Parties of professional " skin hunters " used then to be
sent out regularly equipped for the slaughter. These
men used to follow the herds and encamp in some
quiet nook where buffalo were plentiful; they used
then to creep up to the unsuspecting animals, and the
work of slaughter began. One of these men has been
known to take post at some convenient "stand," as
they called it, from whence he opened fire, and killed
buffalo after buffalo, without shifting his position, until
the ground was literally covered with the slain, whilst
numbers of wounded animals hobbled away to die a
lingering death, or become the prey of the white
wolf etc., before the herd, at length taking fright,

took to their heels and made off.

i

It is a curious circumstance that these usually ex-
tremely wild and wary animals should stupidly stand
and allow themselves to be made a target of in this
way : but there can be little doubt that they take the

* Our Wild Indians, by Col. R. J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1882 p. 294.

BUFFALO AND SKIN HUNTERS. 21

report of firearms for thunder, or other electrical
phenomena, which are exceedingly common on the
plains. The eyesight of the buffalo was never very
keen, and it may be that the masses of shaggy hair
that overhung his brows impeded his vision; but
however this may be, provided a man did not show
himself too openly, and took care to approach the
herd from the leeward side, so that they could not
catch his wind, buffalo seldom took fright at mere
sounds, of which they knew not the import; but pre-
ferred to manoeuvre round, until they obtained its
wind, after which they immediately made off. In the
chapters on hunting and shooting these matters will
be more fully discussed ; and we shall not fail to show
how exceedingly keen was the sense of smell in these
great animals, who almost always, in common with
many others, trusted to their nose to give timely
warning of the approach of enemies.

In passing from this subject however we think it
desirable to mention that the name " buffalo " is in
this case apt to offend the ears of the scientific natur-
alist, because he regards him as a " bison " (Bos Ameri-
canus) and not as a " buffalo ; " nevertheless we bow
to public opinion, and still continue to speak of him
as "buffalo," for as "buffalo" we have hunted him,
as " buffalo " he was known all- over the hunting
grounds of the great west, and as " buffalo " he will
live in story — for the story of the wild buffalo, and
his wild companion the Red Indian, is one which we
venture to predict will live on throughout the ages,
when the name of the last buffalo hunter has been
for ever forgotten.

And here, though the subject is perhaps not strictly

22 BUFFALO CATTLE.

germane to that of The Wilderness and its Tenants,
we must find room for a few words respecting the
last gift and legacy of the wild buffalo to posterity—
we refer to the matter of "buffalo cattle."

These animals, which we still hope may yet cut a
great figure in the world's history, are the legacy of
the buffalo cow; the progeny of the buffalo bull and
the domestic cow has, we believe, always failed, as
owing to the size and shape of the calf the cow was
unable to produce it; this led to the loss of both
mother and offspring; but the calf of the buffalo cow,
and domestic bull, was easily reared, and the result
is a new breed of cattle, of which great things are
expected.

A long account of a herd of these cattle (said to be
the only one then existing) appeared in the American
sporting paper, Forest and Stream of April 18, 1889.
They were reared by the Hon. C. S. Jones, of Garden
County, Kansas, and the report states that, —

"None of the good things we have heard of these cattle
has done justice to their superb appearance," they were
mostly the produce of buffalo cows roped upon the plains,
when 3 or 4 weeks old, from 1885 to 1888. The half bred
animal is stated to be "built just on the lines of a beef
maker, and yet the picture" (portrait of cow given with the
paper) "conveys only a faint idea of the excellence of this
superb creature. She is very tall, very thick through, and
with a gigantic frame, and thick, short legs. The cows are
all alike and convey the impression of more bulk than large
work-oxen, and were estimated to weigh 1400 Ibs." — "a half-
bred steer was killed when three years old, and dressed 1280
Ibs. clear meat, or nearly twice as much as a fat four year
old steer. As might be expected the three-quarter breeds
more nearly resemble the buffalo in hump, head, and horns,

CATTLE IN BLIZZARDS. 23

while the coat is much longer and more wavy than the half-
breeds. A young three-quarter bred bull, at three years old,
pulled down the scale at 2400 Ibs., when grass-fed in autumn.
They produce a robe, in beauty and evenness superior to
that of the buffalo, everywhere a beautiful rich brown, and
as heavy as any buffalo robe. The robe of the half-breeds
is even in length on all parts, and without curl, like a heavy
bear skin." *

But there are other qualities which should strongly
commend these animals to the attention of the agricul-
tural world, namely, the extreme hardiness which they
have inherited from their wild forefathers.

The losses which have sometimes been sustained by
stockmen in the United States, Canada, and Australia,
by severe storms of icy winds known as "Blizzards,"
are well known, and are referred to in some detail in
other portions of this work, f If we can rely upon
the accounts given in Forest and Stream, from which
we have quoted, however, the hybrid buffalo cattle
seem made to meet this difficulty, which we apprehend
is one which will always make itself more or less felt
upon wide plains, towards the polar side of this zone.
Even so far South as Texas, these storms are at times,
exceedingly severe and destructive, and under the name
of "Northers," are much dreaded by the inhabitants, as
we have already shown. § According to the author
of Forest and Stream,

" In severe storms" (Blizzards) " domestic cattle turn tail to the
wind" (and are unable to face it). "Buffalo do just the
reverse —they face the storm, and work up against it. This

* From American Sporting Paper Forest and Stream, of April 18,
1889.

f See our Section on Climates and Temperatures. Vol. i, Chapt. iv.
§ Ibid.

24 BUFFALO IN BLIZZARDS.

characteristic they transmit to their half-breed descendants
by ordinary domestic cattle. Often during a storm, buffalo
and hybrids, will lie down, turning their shoulders to the
gale, and bending their heads round to the flank, so as to
be out of the wind; thus they will lie for hours till quite
covered up and concealed by snow; and often after a heavy
storm, the whole plain being covered with a glittering mass
of snow, the only thing to be seen of them is here and there
little moulds, beneath which the buffalo lie buried; and one
by one they get up, shake themselves, and begin to paw the
snow" (or shovel it with their noses) " and feed on the grass
beneath — the keen scent of the buffalo enabling them to
discover by it where the best grass is to be found." *

We think we can say that in all probability, these
details are on the whole substantially correct: as it is
a fact which was well known to all hunters on the
prairies that buffalo did not run before a storm, as
domestic cattle and horses will always do if they can ;
and experience has shown that these latter, and even
man himself, when exposed to the full fury of the
elements, are on these occasions almost sure to perish,
if caught in the open, in really bad storms.

The number of distressing and fatal accidents that
have occurred upon the western plains of North
America, and elsewhere, from these causes, are almost
too numerous to mention; and when a man escapes
with his life, it is only too often with frozen limbs,
from which fearful mutilations frequently occur. We
have ourselves seen more than one instance where a
man has lost both his feet.

Now the range of the buffalo extended from the
borders of Mexico in the south, to far up into the
snowy regions of the Hudson's Bay Territory in the

* From Forest and Stream, of April 18, 1889.

THE GREAT BUFFALO RANGE. 25

north: how far it may have gone in this direction
we hardly think has ever been accurately ascertained ;
but at any rate it extended as far as the limits of
agriculture are ever likely to be carried. In our own
day buffalo were exceedingly numerous all over this
country : numbers of them were killed throughout the
coldest winters, near Fort Edmonton, a celebrated post
of the Hudson's Bay Company, on the north branch
of the Saskatchewan River, situated in latitude 53°32/
N., longitude ii3°5/ W. ; and we have always under-
stood from traders and trappers who frequented these
wild regions, that buffalo were occasionally to be found
far to the northward of that place; in regions where
the rigorous cold was almost perpetual, and where
these icy winds were common. In fact, there can be
no doubt that the buffalo often made its way beyond
the limits of "The Region of the Great Plains," into
the open glades of our next division, " The Great
Forest Region of the Temperate Zone," which bends
far to the northward in this direction.

Throughout the long winters, a mantle of snow, many
feet in depth, we need hardly say, buried all this great
wilderness country for many months in every year;
and it is indeed a wonderful and remarkable fact in
natural history, to think that a large grass-feeding
animal like the buffalo could possibly maintain itself
throughout the arctic cold of the long nights in that
intensely rigorous season. The fact, at all events,
speaks volumes for the extreme hardiness of that noble
animal, whose extinction from its native wilds can never
be too long, or too deeply regretted.

So far as we could gather, the buffalo did not usually
seek its food by pawing, or burrowing in the snow

26 BUFFALO IN SNOW TIME.

with its forefeet, like the reindeer, but rather by
shovelling" with its broad and powerful nose; and
that it did make its way down to the grass, and did
sustain its mighty frame in fairly good condition,
even under stress of all these accumulated difficulties,
there is ample evidence to prove. We may perhaps
be pardoned if we here venture to point out how this
came to be possible, though this is a matter more
properly dealt with in our arctic section.

When the great snows descend during the course
of winter in a sub-arctic climate, vast accumulations
soon form, as the intense cold of course prevents the
snow from thawing, and it therefore remains in a per-
fectly dry state in the form of a powder as fine as
flour, which will brush off clothes like ordinary dust,
without adhering to them, or wetting* them. Under
great cold, snow does not consist of large flakes and
crystals, such as we are accustomed to in our own
country, but rather of dust, which will not cake to-
gether; indeed in all this great region of which we
now speak, it is doubtful whether it would be possible
to make a single snowball — the snow is too dry for that.

Such being the condition of the snow, therefore, it
is easy to conceive that it is possible that animals can
make their way through it to the ground, and obtain
food in a way which would not be possible were it
in a heavy compressed or half melted state. — It is also
probable that this is one of those wonderful and beau-
tiful provisions of Nature specially intended to act as
a means whereby plants and animals might be enabled
to exist in these desolate regions — where the snow
itself, which covers all things deep in its glittering
mantle, acts as a dress, or covering, to protect the

BIRDS FLYING INTO SNOW DRIFTS. 27

earth, and that which lives thereon, from the effects
of intense cold.

Nothing that is done by Nature, we may depend
upon it, is done except as part of one grand and
homogeneous design, no part of which is without its
uses.

It is in this way for instance that the ptarmigan, or
snow grouse, whose habitat is known to extend beyond
the highest latitude yet reached by arctic explorers,
actually finds a refuge and a habitation within the
snow drift ; for if alarmed they will fly fearlessly right
into it, and are then and there buried out of sight, like
a rifle bullet, in an instant, but without, be it observed,
sustaining any injury, even to the feathers, owing to
the condition of the snow, of which we have here
spoken. Further details of we trust both an instructive
and an interesting nature will be found respecting
these, and kindred subjects, in our arctic section.

The most noteworthy features of the climate, through-
out "the region of the great plains," are its extreme
variability and great range of thermometric temperature,
which according to the seasons are almost everywhere
met with.

The traveller cannot proceed far beyond the limits
of the desert zone without becoming aware that he
has passed out of the region of cloudless skies and
constant brilliant sunshine. In this damper climate,
except during the summer season, or where it actually
adjoins the rainless region, more or less cloud is gene-
rally present in the sky, and rains are liable to occur
suddenly at any time of year. The alternations of
heat and cold, too, become rapidly more and more
clearly marked as the traveller moves away from the

28 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER.

regions of the sun. Mild and balmy though the climate
upon the plains may generally be towards its equatorial
margin, its alternations are elsewhere almost always
very great; the summers, even far up towards the
polar circles, being generally very hot ; and the winters
correspondingly cold ; but at all seasons sudden variations
of temperature are always liable to occur. Thus, the
heats of summer will be suddenly found to change to
cold; on the other hand, even during the severest
winters, mild days will occasionally intervene; the springs
and autumns too are apt to alternate with periods of
hot and cold weather, which are sometimes very trying.
A good, and generally well marked illustration of this
may be found in what is called in America " The
Indian Summer." This occurs during the "fall," or
autumn, and is often preceded by periods of consider-
able cold : when suddenly the scene changes, and summer
appears to come back again ; a balmy softness fills the
air, while the horizon is generally somewhat obscured
by a species of smoky haze. This condition of things
may continue for periods varying from a few days to
a fortnight, or more; after which the breaking up of
the Indian Summer is generally the precursor of wintry
weather.

Notwithstanding its changeable character, and the
sudden alternations of hot and cold periods, the climate
throughout the region of the great plains may be
described on the whole as peculiarly healthy; and
malarial diseases of malignant type may be said hardly
to exist here. We do not mean to say that incautious
exposure during hot weather, to the miasma of swampy
districts, may be practised with impunity; but even
there, fevers of malarial origin, when they do occur,

GREAT PLAINS AS A HEALTH RESORT. 29

are mostly of an intermittent character, and the severer
forms of bilious remittent, are seldom seen. * On the
other hand, as might be expected, rheumatism, and
pulmonary affections become more prevalent. Still
with due precaution to guard against chills, that great
first cause of most of the ordinary forms of serious
illness, it may be fairly said that in no other part
of the world can the European traveller reside and
move about at all seasons of the year with better
prospects of preserving that greatest of all blessings,
robust health, than he can upon the open and breezy
plains comprised within this great region. It is here
that the white man may be said to have attained his
highest intellectual and physical development — and in
connection with this latter fact, we think that the
English-speaking peoples may look upon it as a matter
for legitimate pride and thankfulness, when they consider
the enormous extent of territory occupied and inhabited
by their race within this favoured region. There can
hardly be a doubt that by far the largest portion of
its richest and finest country is comprised within the
limits of these English-speaking lands. We note the
fact, however, without the slightest desire either to
excite international jealousies, or to depreciate the
territories of other nationalities ; but in doing so it will
doubtless have struck the reader that the greater part
of the British Islands themselves lie outside, and to
the North, of this great and favoured region, and

* It is remarkable that the first settlers in many parts of America
suffered severely from fever and ague in a way that succeeding generations
have not done. There can be no doubt that the cause of this was
turning up of virgin soil wherein the malarial germs had accumulated
through the ages — but once exposed to the sun and air these germs
became so diluted as to become almost innocuous.

30 INFLUENCES OF CLIMATE ON NATIONAL LIFE.

therefore would presumably be excluded from many
of its advantages, and yet this is not so, for this
drawback is more than compensated for by exceptional
and peculiarly favourable climatic conditions, caused,
as it is generally supposed, by the set of the Gulf
Stream, which to all intents and purposes has the
effect of so far modifying the rigour of its northern
position, that it enjoys almost all the benefits which
would accrue from a much more southern situation.
The fact is so well known that we think it sufficient
merely to mention it, as a complete answer to such
an objection. Had this not been so, it is to be feared
that Great Britain would never have attained to that
pre-eminent 'position assigned to her by history: the
effects of climate upon both the mental and physical
condition of man being such, that the world's history
shows it has generally been decisive in this respect.

The condition of Labrador, which occupies on the
opposite side of the Atlantic, a similar position to that
of Great Britain, furnishes us with a good example of
what climate may do to prevent the material progress
of a country. Here, it so happens that climatic in-
fluences are unfavourable, the icy current from the Polar
seas making it rigorous in the extreme. As a conse-
quence Labrador has been excluded from all material
progress, and remains a nearly uninhabited region of
lakes, swamps, and rocky wilderness, ice-bound for
the greater part of every year. So far as is known,
very little of it appears to be improveable, for the
conditions necessary for the formation of humus, or
vegetable soil, are generally non-existent.

But so long as the climate is not too severe for the
cultivation of the principal cereals, and the raising of

INFLUENCES OF RIGOROUS WINTERS. 31

cattle and other domestic stock, extremely rigorous
winters do not seem to place a bar upon the rapid
progress of a country, as the history of Canada, and
especially of Manitoba, conclusively shows. Neverthe-
less the slow progress of Russia proves the unfavour-
able influence which the sealing up of the great rivers
and ports by ice, for several months in each year, is
sure to exercise. Here we find a gigantic population, to-
gether with enormous resources, in their surplus products
of grain, horses, cattle, etc., etc. — and an explanation,
in a nutshell, as it were, of the aggressive character
of Russian policy. Her statesmen are aware of this;
the weak point in the position of Russia is the inse-
curity of her lines of communication with the ocean:
and the consequence is, they are never at rest; but
are constantly endeavouring to break through this iron
girdle of frost, and of confined outlets to the open sea,
which is strangling the commercial prospects of their
country. Aggression against Turkey has thus always
formed part of the policy of Russia, in the hope of
obtaining command of the Bosphorus. It therefore
becomes a question whether public policy does not
point to the admission of Russia to the free navigation
of the seas, like other nations occupying more favour-
able geographical positions.

It would be easy to go on to show, did time and
space admit of it, that the moral and intellectual progress
of nations is no less dependent upon climate, than is
the vegetation, and the produce of the soil.

Man in his highest condition of mental and physical
advancement seems to be unfitted for continued resi-
dence under the influence of either excessive heat or
cold, without the vigour of the race being impaired.

32 INFLUENCES OF GREAT SUMMER HEATS.

The heat to which we here refer is that of a tropical
character, where high temperatures are constant through-
out the year; high summer temperatures merely, do
not seem to exercise a permanently debilitating effect,
or to impair in any serious degree the national vigour
of the race. Thus in Australia, the United States, and
elsewhere, the sun temperatures in the hot weather are
often very extreme ; yet the solar rays seem to a great
degree to have lost their power of inflicting serious
harm, and the more acute forms of dysentery and
hepatic disease are seldom met with. Sunstroke also
is rarely to be dreaded, except in cases where excess
in alcoholic stimulants, or starting upon a journey with
an empty stomach, has predisposed the individual to its
effects; and we believe we should not be far wrong
in asserting that most of the cases of sunstroke, heat
apoplexy, etc., which occur in the great cities, or during
the march of military forces in the temperate zones,
may be traced to over-indulgence in this respect, per-
haps during the previous night; combined, it may be,
in the case of persons of the humbler classes, with
exposure to the sun on an empty stomach. The ex-
periences of settlers in Australia and South Africa, or
on the plains of Texas, and other places, where the
summers are very hot, seem pretty well unanimous in
admitting that though often very trying, the hot weather
in those countries rarely exercises any seriously pre-
judicial effect upon the health; and instances are common
of Europeans who have emigrated, and resided there
for years, without their health being in any way impaired
though constantly exposed to the sun, in the great heats.

We have laid some stress upon these points because
of the number of enterprising young persons who are

GREAT PLAINS AS A RESIDENCE FOR SETTLERS. 33

constantly leaving our shores to seek a home in those
lands, where many splendid fortunes have been realized
in the cattle and sheep farming business; and though
circumstances do not now warrant the expectation of
such rapid and signal successes as in former days
(say thirty or forty years ago), still there can be little
doubt that with patience, perseverance, and prudence,
combined with fair health and business capacity, much
money is still to be made there.

It should not be forgotten that the region of the
Great Plains still remains what it always has been, one
of the finest, healthiest, and most fertile on earth ; yet
remarkable is the fact that it is only during the last
half century that this seems to have been realized.
Fifty years ago most of these exhaustless territories
were simply known as the great hunting grounds of
.the world, where wild beasts, and wilder men, roamed,
lords of all that they surveyed — and when we reflect
what great things have been accomplished in that brief
period, in the way of settlement and improvement, it
is surely not unreasonable to suppose that still greater
things yet remain to be done; and that whatever
fortunes have heretofore been realized there, they may
very safely be accounted as small compared with those
which in a hundred ways yet wait to be realized.

Another of the remarkable facts to which we desire
to call attention is the enormous extent of territory
which was at first, after a cursory inspection, set down
as desert unfit for the habitation of man, but which
has subsequently by human skill and labour been turned
into remunerative pasture, and even arable land. The
most contradictory accounts in fact were often brought
in respecting the same section of country: one party

VOL. II. 3

34 CONTRADICTORY REPORTS BY EARLY EXPLORERS.

of explorers describing it as a series of lagoons and
swamps, and the next, as a waterless waste, where the
traveller incurred the risk of perishing by thirst or
starvation ; and yet both reports were probably honest,
and given in accordance with what was actually the
then state of the locality, as seen by the explorers.

Nor will these discrepancies surprise any experienced
plainsman, for he knows that these apparently opposite
conditions depend upon the seasons, and that heavy and
continuous rains, on these plains, will of course produce
floods; while during the dry season the waters will
often either wholly disappear, or else will sometimes
turn salt, and become undrinkable. Much loss and
suffering, and many sad casualties, have occurred both
to unwary travellers, stock farmers, and others, either
through ignorance or forgetfulness of these phenomena,
which may be regarded as characteristic of the climate
throughout the greater portion of the Region of the
Great Plains. Everywhere in the interior of great
continents where these great plains exist, as a rule we
may expect that periods of flood will occasionally be
found to alternate with prolonged droughts.

Australia seems to be peculiarly subject to be affected
by these troubles. We cannot doubt that this is due
to the peculiar set of the winds, to which we have
already referred elsewhere ; * and the losses of stock,
etc., which have been sustained on these occasions,
have frequently proved of the most serious nature.
The floods, though sometimes exceedingly destructive,
do not, however, seem to create the same wide-spread
disastrous consequences as the droughts. These pro-
longed droughts seem to recur periodically at inter-

* See the Chapter on Climates and Temperatures. (Chapt. iv, Vol. i.)

AUSTRALIAN DROUGHTS. 35

vals of a few years, and sometimes have been
known to continue for two or three years in succession.
Thus — "hardly any rain fell in the years 1814 and
1815— -and again in 1827, 1828, and 1829, there was
a long1 period of drought, during which the beds of
deep and rapid streams became dry for miles; every
blade of grass was destroyed over large tracts of
country, and cattle perished by thousands." *

The remedy for this state of things in the inhabited
districts is the artificial storage of water by means of
dams, etc. which in many places has proved most
. successful.

Experience has shewn that human skill and enter-
prise are capable, when scientifically directed, of
triumphing over apparently insuperable difficulties;
and that a sure but gradual change for the better is
brought about by stocking and human occupation.
That an immense area of waste lands, which were at
first believed to be irreclaimable, have been already
improved and rendered productive, throughout the
great plains in the interior of Australia, is a fact so
well known as hardly to need repetition.

These lands, up to the time of their occupation,
had lain throughout the ages untenanted, and practi-
cally untrodden by heavy beasts of any kind. The
poverty of the Australian fauna, in this respect, is
well known, both the horse and the ox, as well as the
sheep, having been introduced by human agency. The
benefits which the importation of these quadrupeds was
destined to confer upon Australia, were incalculable.

" Under the ceaseless tread of myriads of hoofs, the loose

* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for Australia,
-edited by Alfred R. Wallace, 1879, p. 34.

36 IMPROVEMENT OF LAND BY STOCK.

open soil was to become firm and hard ; whilst fresh growths
of herbs and grass, followed the footsteps of the invading
herds. The shaking bogs were soon to be solidified, and the
waters that permeated them, to retreat into well-defined chains
of ponds and lagoons." *

Nevertheless, the naturalization of these great herds
of domestic creatures upon the virgin pasture lands of
the great continent of the south, proved by no means
the easy task that it might at first sight appear to be ;
for the herbage in many parts of the country was
exceedingly coarse and wiry, and proved but indiffer-
ently suited for grazing purposes ; and it was necessary
for the stock to become used to feeding on these new
kinds of pasture grasses, before they could be expected
to thrive upon them. Then, there was the constantly
recurring difficulty as to the water-supply ; and as the
water pools dried up, whole districts of country required
to be evacuated in haste.

By degrees, however, these difficulties one by one
were surmounted, and upon what sometimes appeared
the very unpromising herbage and shrubs of the great
plains of the interior, stock was eventually found to fatten
admirably, and an improved class of herbage seemed to
spring up upon the feeding ranges of the great stock
farms, sometimes, no doubt, because the seeds of well-
known valuable fodder plants, were imported, and sown
broadcast over the country ; but to a great extent 'also
through natural causes; for pastures closely cropped
by large herds of cattle, etc., are known gradually to
become modified in character — certain grasses and weeds
disappearing, whilst others seem to come up to take

* The History of Australian Exploration, by Ernest Favenac,.
p. 56 (published Sydney, N.S.W., 1888).

MODIFICATION OF PASTURES BY STOCK. 37

their places : possibly to a great extent, by the larger
and coarser grasses being kept down, so that the
dwarfer, and more valuable kinds of herbage are ena-
bled to spring up and supplant them.

Also, when stock had once become used to the
peculiar vegetation of the Australian plains, it was found
that Nature had endowed it with certain special qual-
ities of an exceedingly valuable character, for these—

" Grasses and herbs growing on the table lands, while
repellant in appearance and colour, compared to the richer
herbage of the coast, possess qualities that render them in-
valuable as fodder plants. Once let the grasses of the coast
lose their moisture, by drought, and they become sapless
and worthless; but it is not so on the table lands: months
of dry weather have no effect upon the fattening properties
of the shrubs ; the stock however require to become used to
feeding on them, before their full value is attained." *

Such being the result of Australian experience, thus
far, we may leave this subject to settle itself, confident
in the advent of a splendid future for that continent,
where millions of acres yet await discovery and occu-
pation. For a new country, and wild lands, for several
reasons, it seems to be generally conceded that cattle,
at first, do better than sheep. They require less, atten-
tion, and fewer men to look after them; while for
those who are fond of a stirring existence in a new
country, the wild free life of a stockman presents greater
attractions than that of a sheep-farmer. Also, " Cattle
require less outlay, in the beginning, than sheep," and
" 10,000 acres will carry about 2000 cattle" | (that is
to say about one head for every five acres under

* The History of Australian Exploration, by Ernest Favenac,
Sydney, 1888, pp. 40 and 41.

f See Silver's ' Graziers'1 Guide for Cattle in Australia, 1 88 1, p. 17, etc.

33 AUSTRALIAN CATTLE STATIONS.

ordinary circumstances). Finally, it is said that " The-
Hereford breed of cattle has done best" (as stock
improvers) "in Australia — Devons next, then Short-
horns" * — and by the last returns, it would appear that
the flocks of Australia now number nearly 12 millions
of cattle, close upon 100 millions of sheep, and con-
siderably above i|- millions of horses, f

The great cattle-farming state is Queensland; about
half of its area is stated to be " natural forest," most
of which is bush country. The remainder is plains
country, and " a large proportion of the colony is
leased in squatting runs for pastoral purposes, amounting
to nearly 270 millions of acres in 1894, when the
number of runs was 5577, and the stock of cattle over
7 millions, and of horses nearly 450,000." §

We ought to state however, that several experienced
Australians with whom we have had the pleasure of
conferring strongly maintain that at present there
is more money to be made by sheep than by cattle.
These gentlemen were however themselves mostly
sheep-owners, and so may have had a certain amount
of predilection for these beautiful little creatures, " whose
feet" according to the saying of farmers, "are shod
with silver" — for, wherever the sheep sets its foot,,
it does good. — It is of course the wool which proves
so valuable as a money-making product, when prices
are good — and perhaps we shall be pardoned for add-
ing some brief details, of a technical nature, as to what
may be done with a pound of wool.

" It is estimated that one pound of wool will yield in fine

* See Silver's Graziers' Guide for Cattle in Australia, p. I/, etc.
•j- Statesman's Year Book for 1896 ; edited by J. Scott Keltic^
(Extracts from returns, totals added together).
§ Ibid., p. 273.

AUSTRALIAN SHEEP FARMS. 39

yarn 84,000 yards, or (nearly) 47! miles:— a pound of
combed wool has however been spun into a thread of
168,000 yards, or nearly 95-^- miles; and the same weight of
cotton into 203,000 yards, or over 115^ miles."*

The great sheep-farming- colony of Australia is New
South Wales, whose flocks number nearly 57 millions
— Queensland follows next with over 19 millions —
Victoria has a little over 13 millions — South Au-
stralia a little over 7 millions, and West Australia
above 2 millions — making a total just over 99 millions
of sheep, f

The British possessions in South Africa also, mainly
consist of a pastoral country — sheep do particularly
well, and in 1891 ^2,619,924 worth of wool and
hair were exported from Cape Colony; together
with nearly half a million worth of skins and hides,
and ^46 8,2 2 1 worth of ostrich feathers, besides further
quantities from the Colony of Natal, not included in
these returns. §

New Zealand has also a most promising future be-
fore it, as a pastoral country; and really we do not
know where we have ever seen a finer lot of sheep,
than we have met with in this flourishing colony. —
After visiting some of the great meat preserving esta-
blishments however, we regret to have to chronicle a
serious depression in this industry, which however we
trust is only of a temporary nature. The more rainy
nature of the climate confers upon New Zealand an
immense advantage over Australia as a pastoral and

* Engineer of May 17, 1889.

f Extracted from Statesman's Year-book for 1896; edited by J. Scott
Keltic (from returns of the different Australian colonies).

§ See Brown's South Africa, published in Cape Town, 1893,
pp. 46 and 48.

40 NEW ZEALAND AS A STOCK RAISING COLONY.

stock raising" country, and we have every reason to
hope that New Zealand will in due course reap the
golden harvests which a beneficent nature seems to
have destined to be produced there : not only in quantity
and quality, but also in remunerative financial returns.

These results, we feel confident, will D.V., unques-
tionably accrue to all our great colonies of the southern
hemisphere, as time and progress move on together.

We have already alluded to the fact that during the
dry season many of the waters throughout " The Region
of the Great Plains" are apt to become saline. This
peculiarity is of course confined to certain districts, but
in almost every part of the world, within this zone, it
would be possible to cite notable instances of it. In
Algeria for instance, the salt water lagoons are termed
" Shotts, " and in the French guide book it is stated
that in the three provinces, " it is reckoned that there
are 26 large saline lakes, 21 saline rivers, and 7
deposits of rock salt. " * In many parts of Egypt even
wells sunk in the valley of the Nile, not far from the
river, produce brackish, and even salt water. Then
in South Africa, Australia, North and South America,
Siberia, etc., these saline waters are found extending
over large areas of country.

In these places after heavy and continuous rains,
when the rivers and lakes are filled to overflowing,
of course the water will very likely be found fresh,
but after the dry weather has set in, when they begin
to fall rapidly, it gradually becomes brackish, and
finally, should there be a long dry season, often so
highly saline as to be quite undrinkable; and sometimes

* See introduction to Algeria et Tunisie, par Louis Piesse, 1891,
p. xlviii.

EL GRAN SECO IN LA PLATA. 41

in such localities square miles of country may be seen
whitened by an incrustation of salt, as if by a fall of
snow. Even in their brackish state, these waters are
apt to create diarrhoeas, and bowel complaints of
various kinds, which are always troublesome, and at
times exceedingly injurious to the health of persons
obliged to drink them.

The late Mr. Charles Darwin has given an inter-
esting account of his visit to one of these salt districts,
near the Rio Negro, which forms the north eastern
boundary of Patagonia, and mentions the existence of
salt lakes near El Carmen, at the mouth of that river ;
where in summer time, when their beds were dry, a
floor of salt was exposed, two or three feet thick,
remarkable for its purity. — The export of this salt in
fact formed the main staple of trade from that river. *
He also mentions, that at the time of the disastrous
droughts which took place in the provinces of Buenos
Ayres and Santa Fe, between the years 1827 and 1830,
known among the gauchos as "El gran Seco, " — "all
the small rivers became highly saline, and this caused
the deaths of vast numbers of horses, cattle, etc., in
particular spots; for when an animal drinks of such
water " (he tells us) " it does not recover. * The loss
of stock indeed, in the province of Buenos Ayres alone,
was reckoned at " a million head " : one unfortunate
proprietor at San Pedro, we are told, " had previously
to these years, 20,000 head, and at the end not one
remained." f

* See Journal of Researches on Natural History and Geology
during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, by Chas. Darwin, edition of
1878, pp. 65 — 6.

f Ibid., pp. 133—4-

42 SALINE WATERS.

It will thus be seen that the existence of brackish
waters in a district may at any time become a matter
of serious moment, in case of any prolonged drought
setting in.

Why the waters should turn salt in this way is a
question more easily asked than answered ; but we may
be sure that it depends, like everything in Nature,
upon some plain and constant rule, could we only discover
it; and if we might venture to hazard an opinion upon
a matter concerning which there are so few data to
go upon, we should say that the collection of salt is
caused by imperfect drainage.

In these very flat countries the rivers and streams
have no proper watershed to convey the waters to the
sea. The consequence is, heavy rains are certain to
cause disastrous floods; as the inundations subside, the
floods of course retire to the lowest levels : this accounts
for the formation of the extensive shallow lagoons, and
marshes, which are generally characteristic of these
countries; but as the water always holds in solution
a certain proportion of earthy salts, these are in con-
sequence carried down to, and collected at these spots ;
and are of course precipitated there, when the water
dries up ; and by the constant repetition of this process,
year by year, for vast periods of geological time, these
lagoons and lowlands are at length turned into salt
marshes, and sometimes even into deposits of pure salt.

This theory seems to be the more probable, inas-
much as we know that large bodies of water, which
have no outlet to the sea, are always salt — of these
we may cite the Caspian Sea, and especially the Dead
Sea, as prominent examples. — It is probable that the
saltness of the ocean itself is due to similar causes,

CAUSES OF FRESH WATERS TURNING SALT. 43

operating throughout the course of countless ages.

The turning of freshwater rivers and streams, during
periods of drought, into salt water, is a matter, explained,
as we conceive, upon the same principles. All these
streams run through extensive flat plains, upon which
the floods have already deposited a considerable season-
ing of salt — the course of the stream naturally marks
the area of lowest level. Then, as long as there is
plenty of water, the solution of salts is too weak to
attract particular attention: but after a long drought,
when the waters become greatly reduced, the solution
becomes so strongly concentrated by evaporation, that
the remaining water may be as salt as the sea, or
even salter — and thus the most disastrous consequences,
both to men and animals, have been frequently brought
about.

The sufferings from thirst during " El gran Seco" to
which we have already alluded are, even now, terrible
to contemplate.

So little rain fell, Mr. Darwin assures us, that the
vegetation was entirely destroyed " and the whole
country assumed the appearance of a dusty high road.
Very great numbers of birds and wild animals," in
addition to the domestic stock, " perished for want of
food and water." So great was their distress that,
Mr. Darwin says, a man told him " that the deer used
to come into his courtyard, to the well which he had
been obliged to dig to supply his own family with
water, and that the partridges had hardly strength to
fly away when pursued." Even on the banks of the
great river Parana terrible scenes were witnessed, "the
cattle, in herds of thousands" in an agony of thirst,
rushing down into the river, " and exhausted by hunger,

44 SCENES ON THE PARANA IN THE GREAT DROUGHT. .

were unable to crawl up the muddy banks, and thus
were drowned. The arm of the river that runs by
San Pedro was so full of putrid carcases, that the
master of a vessel" assured Mr. Darwin, " that the
smell rendered it quite impassable," and Mr. Darwin
says that "without doubt, several hundred thousands
of animals thus perished in the river." *

Azara, a Spanish traveller, describes " the fury of
the wild horses, on a similar occasion, rushing" into
the marshes, those which arrived first being overwhelmed
and crushed by those which followed" — and Azara
asserts " that he had more than once seen the carcases
of upwards of a thousand wild horses thus destroyed "
(Azara's travels, Vol. i. p. 374). So also in a great
drought in India, Dr. Malcolmson informed Mr. Darwin
" that the wild animals used to enter the tents of some
troops at Ellore" in search of food and water, and
wonderful to relate, even a timid " hare drank out of
a vessel held by the adjutant of the regiment." f

The rivers and streams which cross wide level plains
are often so peculiar in their character, that their geo-
graphical features call for special attention from all
travellers.

It might be supposed that through so flat a country
there would be very little current; the contrary how-
ever, is, as a rule, the fact: thus affording conclusive
proof of how completely the eye is deceived. We
have already alluded to the fact that upon the great
pampas region of South America, it had struck us

* Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology
of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round
the World, by Charles Darwin, edit, of 1878, p. 134.

•j- Ibid., footnote to p. 134.

DEAD LEVEL APPEARANCE OF THE PAMPAS. 45

that if possible, larger stretches of apparently dead
level country were more common than anywhere else ;
and Mr. Darwin seems to have been impressed with
the same opinion, for he mentions that —

" For many leagues round San Nicholas and Rosario, the
country is really level. Scarcely anything that travellers have
written about its extreme flatness can be considered as
exaggeration; yet I never could find a spot where, by slowly
turning round, objects were not seen at a greater distance ,.
in some directions than others; and this manifestly proves
the inequality of the plain. At sea, a person's eye, being
six feet above the surface of the water, his horizon is 2|-
miles distant. In like manner, the more level the plain, the
more nearly does the horizon approach within these narrow
limits; and this in my opinion, entirely destroys that grandeur,
which one would have imagined that a vast level plain would
have possessed." *

There can be no doubt that if the plains were
actually level, this would be so; but this, as Mr.
Darwin explains, is not so ; and with all due deference
to so eminent a scientific authority, we venture to
state that our own experience teaches us that throughout
all these regions there are here and there to be found
positions from whence magnificent panoramas may
occasionally be obtained; a conception of whose spa-
cious, almost immeasurable grandeur is not easily
conveyed in words; and we think we are supported
in this by most of the books of travel descriptive
of the plains region. That a long march of many
days across vast open plains is often oppressive, on
account of its monotony, is however generally admitted ;
but even in the flattest plains, extensive views are now
and then to be had: the traveller is then of course

* Journal of Researches, etc., by Charles Darwin, p. 127.

46 PLAINS RIVERS.

crossing the crest of an eminence, whose slope may be so
gradual as to be entirely imperceptible — but it is never-
theless sufficient to create a rapid currentin a stream.

In vast plains regions, like that of the American
prairies and the pampas, bounded towards the west
by a giant chain of mountains, and to the east either
by a great river, such as the Mississippi, and its con-
tinuation the Missouri, or by the ocean: there are
generally two sets of water-courses — one of these consists
of streams proceeding from some central ridge in the
continent, which make their way either to the great
river or to the sea ; whilst the other, mostly consisting
of mountain torrents, in many instances become lost
in the plains. It may be that these latter merely grow
smaller and smaller, until at length they disappear
altogether; or else, they end in salt lakes or marshes,
such as we have already described. This of course is
more particularly the case towards the warmer and
drier limits of the Region of the Great Plains, which
adjoin the Desert Zone, and nearly all plains countries
and extensive elevated table lands furnish numerous
examples of such streams. In Europe we may refer
to the case of the Guadarama River, in Spain, which
is lost in the plains and marshes of Murcia — a locality
visited by few travellers, but which, we can say from
personal observation, is quite worth a visit, as a mat-
ter of geographical interest. In South America we have
also seen great numbers of similar cases.

As a rule, along the banks, and in the meadows
subject to floods, which lie along the margins of the
rivers and larger streams, more or less timber is to be
found; heavy timber is however rare, and in most
cases it consists either of medium-sized deciduous trees,

TIMBERED MARGINS OF STREAMS. 47

or else of bush. The courses of rivers indeed may
very generally be seen mapped out, in the distance,
by this fringe of timber; which thus acts as a guide,
to direct the traveller to a camping ground, where
those three great essentials, grass, wood, and water,
are to be found. At the end of a long march there-
fore, when evening is drawing on, or when the sky
indicates the approach of storms, the appearance of
these trees upon the horizon often forms a welcome
apparition to prairie travellers. In the icy winds too,
which periodically sweep over these plains, a ravine,
or other cosy nook, among these sheltering groves,
must at once be sought for; and the prudent traveller
will do well to mark, as he goes along, and keep in
his mind's eye, the location of such spots, to which in
case of need he may be able to fall back. *

The shores of the larger lakes are, in the same way,
usually found bordered by woods and bush. On the
other hand, when the strand at the edge of these
sheets of water is seen perfectly clean, like the sea
shore, and the banks clear of timber, it very often
(though not always) indicates that the water is salt.
The presence too of flamingoes, is an almost certain
sign of saline waters, or marshes, which form the
constant haunt of these curious birds; which are sup-
posed to feed on particular sorts of worms, and other
insects, which live in vast numbers in the mud of even
the saltest lagoons, f

* This practice of noting eligible spots for various purposes is one
which soon becomes second nature to leaders of parties travelling through
wild countries. In hostile neighbourhoods for instance defensible posts
and positions to which it may be possible to fall back in case of need
should invariably or studied and made careful note of.

f Journal of Researches etc., by Charles Darwin, edition of 18/8,
p. 67.

48 GAME ALONG WOODED STREAMS.

These belts of timber, wherever they occur, also
form the resort of game of every description which
the country affords; and, as the reader will find more
particularly described in the sections on hunting and
shooting, a stroll, up the wind, in the vicinity of these
lakes or streams, will frequently procure the chance
of getting shots at deer, or other animals. The waters
themselves are, besides, often found covered with dif-
ferent kinds of wild fowl, which probably more than
any other class of game afford palatable and useful
additions to the larder; generally easily got at, and
procurable in most places in numbers sufficient to
supply the wants of small parties of travellers. The
presence of these birds also indicates that of fish, and
in most of the lakes and streams the angler may
obtain good, and in many cases magnificent sport, as
a reference to our section on fishing will, we trust,
conclusively show.

Now as regards the crossing of these streams, which
is of course a thing of almost every-day occurrence,
while travellers are on the march this is a matter
which requires to be specially considered: — Each
different class of country is drained, as a rule, by its
peculiar type of stream. The best means of procedure
will therefore depend upon the character of the banks
and stream beds, which vary according to locality in
a variety of different ways too numerous to mention
here. We shall therefore only describe one or two of
the most remarkable types of such plains rivers.

A very common type of prairie stream is one where
the current, upon ordinary occasions, flows in a com-
paratively narrow channel through a wide expanse of
sand and gravel, testifying to the mighty force with

CHANNEL OF PRAIRIE STREAMS. 49

which the water has torn its way through the plain,
during" the freshets to which all these streams are
liable. As long" as the bottom is hard and even, of
course, the passage of these streams presents no spe-
cial difficulty at low water. At other times, where
the sand is fine, the current during a flood often scoops
out deep, though narrow channels, whose sides go
down suddenly, like a wall. If the stream is turbid,
it is very hard at times to detect these places ; so that
a man on horseback may enter the swift-flowing river,
where the water appears only a few inches deep;
and all at once the bottom seems to give way, and
the horse falls, as it were, into a hole, where swim-
ming at once becomes necessary, and where getting out
again is at times by no means an easy matter; for
the horse breasts the opposite bank, which is frequently
perpendicular also ; and should he succeed in getting his
forefeet upon the top, the edge, which is generally
running sand, at once gives way.

In some districts of country these places are rendered
specially dangerous from the enormous quantity of this
impalpable sand with which the current is surcharged
when the stream is in flood. This sand is sometimes
carried down by the water in such quantities that
the current in such places seems to consist rather of
waves of moving sand, than of water. When this is
so, the weight of the stream is so enormous, that it is
apt to bear down and engulph in an instant, every-
thing that opposes it. Numerous fatal accidents have
occurred through unwary travellers incautiously enter-
ing these sand streams, where horses and men have
frequently been known to disappear for ever in the
twinkling of an eye.

VOL. II. 4

50 SAND STREAMS.

Thus, Colonel Dodge, gives an account oi an ac-
cident of this kind, by which two of his soldiers lost
their lives. It seems they were fishing with a seine-
net in the South Platte river, at a place where the water
was apparently only two or three feet deep ; when sud-
denly three of the men furthest out from the bank went
down. "One of them," the Colonel tells us, "was
caught by a comrade and saved; but the others were
never seen again, in life or in death. The sand never
gives up its dead." Moreover, as Colonel Dodge
explains, "a man caught in these moving sand waves
seems to lose even the power of struggling." * The
destruction of wild animals in the same way, while
attempting to cross these streams, has often been very
great. Indeed, "as late as 1867, 2000 buffalo perished
in the quicksands of the Platte river," as we were told
on the authority of the well-known zoologist Mr. "W.
B. Tegetmeier, in a recent article " On the Extermina-
tion of the Bison. " f These catastrophes to buffalo
were common in former days; and Sir George Simp-
son, Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, as well
as other well-known travellers, have left accounts of
cases where enormous numbers of these animals,
sometimes amounting to many thousands, perished in
this way, either by getting caught in quicksands, or
mired under such circumstances that escape was impos-
sible. As we know, animals frequently get mired in
boggy places, even on English farms, notwithstanding
the care that is taken to drain, or fence off, unsafe
spots, and would perish but for man's assistance; but

* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, by Colonel Richard
J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1877, p. 25.

$ See this article in Illustrated London News of June n, 1892.

QUICKSANDS. 5 1

In wild countries, deep and dangerous sloughs are very
common, and heavy losses among herds of game
animals, which follow their leaders like sheep, are in
consequence matters of every-day occurrence, as the
frequent discoveries of the bones of extinct quadrupeds,
sometimes in large numbers found in such situations,
even in our own land, conclusively show. We have
seen a place, for instance, in an Irish lake, where a
whole herd of what we believe to be the now extinct
red deer of Ireland, had evidently thus perished in
ancient times, leaving their heads and horns, etc., ah1
within a small area, as a memento of the fatality.

The margins and beds of some of the prairie streams
also occasionally consist of regular quicksands, though
these are fortunately of comparatively rare occurrence.
When they do occur however, quicksands usually
consist of the finest impalpable sand, almost like mud,
and yet still distinctly sand : but of so fine a nature,
that it runs together under the action of water, almost
like quicksilver.

It is probable that man, with his light weight and
comparatively large feet, except through extreme want
of care and caution, but rarely falls a victim to these
treacherous sands; though as we have shown, large
numbers of the heavier quadrupeds frequently do meet
their end by being caught in them. Indeed there are
probably few experienced plainsmen who have not at
one time or another had serious trouble, and perhaps
loss, by some of their stock getting foundered in such
places.

A human being, horse, or ox, once embedded in a
quicksand, is almost certainly doomed to a terrible
death, unless speedy relief is at hand; for in a really

52 ANIMALS CAUGHT IN QUICKSANDS.

deep and bad quicksand the tendency almost always
is for the unfortunate captive to gradually sink deeper
and deeper, until suffocated; and the body perhaps en-
tirely covered by the sand — or at any rate he is held pris-
oner, like a rat in a trap, until he dies of exhaustion.

The tenacity of the sand in some of these places is
something that must be seen to be credited; indeed if
it once gets a fair hold, escape becomes a moral
impossibility, for the sand closes in upon the captive,
and holds him like a vice, his struggles only causing
him to sink in it more and more.

Should a horse for instance get caught in one of
these quicksands, trying to dig it out is rarely suc-
cessful, for the sand runs in at least as quickly as it
is thrown out; the best and perhaps the only chance
of extricating him is to try and get poles, or whatever
may be at hand, passed underneath him, so as to
prevent his sinking deeper, and above all promptly to-
fasten a strong rope round the body or neck, to the
other end of which two or more horses are hitched r
and thus haul him out by main force.

In these cases men can fortunately generally walk
around the unfortunate animal, without incurring any
serious risk — provided they keep constantly shifting
their feet— as the surface even of the most dangerous
quicksands is often comparatively firm. The following
instructive and terrible story will however show what
a quicksand may sometimes be found capable of doing.
The circumstances, we admit, are but little likely to
befall travellers crossing prairie streams; yet from the
extraordinary and we trust almost unexampled detailsr
we think the story quite worthy of recital here.— In
the spring of 1890 a Mr. James H. Parsells was

DREADFUL DEATH IN A QUICKSAND. 53

building a well about fifteen feet deep, sunk down to
a quicksand, at Woodside, New York, when the sides
caved in, partly burying" him. When discovered, his
head and part of his body, were however still above
the sand. Abundant assistance was at hand, and —

" His two sons worked desperately to save their father's
life, and dozens of men worked with shovels round the well,
whilst others fastened ropes under Mr. Parsell's arms. Ten
men pulled on the rope, from the second story of the house,
until deep ridges were made by the rope in the window sill ;
but all efforts failed — and the agony produced by the
tremendous strain was so great, that at the request of the
doomed man himself the attempt was given up. Meanwhile
the sand constantly packed itself more solidly round him,
and continued to rise up over his head and shoulders. A
rubber tube was placed in his mouth to supply him with air,
while the rescuing party fought the deadly sands desperately ;
but they could not dislodge the body from their tenacious
grip. John, the elder son, stood at his father's side, and
with a shovel worked furiously for nearly two hours. Three
times he succeeded in clearing away the sands from his fa-
ther's head, but they rapidly rose up again like the waters
of a spring, and at last covered him entirely. After a long
time they succeeded in getting the body out — but life was
extinct."*

This terrible incident shows the extraordinary tenacity
with which quicksands will sometimes hold their victim ;
and the difficulty of effecting a rescue, even when
abundant means are at hand; and we think it more
than justifies any observations or words of warning
which we have written on this subject: a matter which
we believe no other traveller has done more than
casually allude to.

* Condensed details from Report in the Scientific American News-
paper of June 14, 1890.

54 CROSSING SWAMPS.

The more ordinary cases of waggons and animals
becoming mired in sloughs and other swampy places,
we are hardly concerned with at present, though these
accidents are very common in all wild countries. In the
prairie region however, these spots are known under
the name of coulees, and consist very frequently of
blind watercourses, over-grown with reeds, and other
aquatic vegetation, situated at the bottom of depres-
sions, worn by the water to some depth below the
surface of the plain, which sometimes form very trou-
blesome obstacles.

Extensive swamps are also occasionally met with,
quite impassable for animals and vehicles, apparently
consisting of chains of blind lakes, or lagoons, whose
waters have in like manner become grown over with
a thick mat of vegetation, which if once broken through,
may be found to cover a mass of soft mud and water,
of it is impossible to say what depth — but passes are
sometimes found between these lakes, by which cara-
vans may cross, at spots where there are fords, with a
hard bottom.

A still more curious class of country, and one which
is full of difficulties for the wayfarer, is that where the
surface of the plain is scored in all directions with
numerous ravines. These may be of almost any depth,
and are generally cut in the shape of the letter "V",
and though some are dry, generally there is a stream
flowing at the bottom, which after heavy rains becomes
a torrent. Some of these ravines are occasionally of
enormous dimensions and depth, descending abruptly
for perhaps one or two hundred feet or more below
the general level of the plain; and in the absence of
roads, should the banks be very precipitous, they pre-

RAVINES. 55

sent impassable obstacles. * Also, in a country where
there is any fear of malaria, ample experience has
shown that these ravines act as a species of conduit
pipe, up which malaria is certain to travel; and that there
is no surer way of getting a smart attack of intermit-
tent fever than for travellers to encamp in one of
these situations.

Natives, if left to themselves, are apt to select such
places as these for camping, because of their vicinity to
water, and because of the shelter which they afford
from the bitter night winds, which so often sweep over
the high plains above. The frequent occurrence of
dwarf trees and brushwood, so generally found grow-
ing on the steep banks of these gorges, which afford
a plentiful supply of firewood, is of course a further
source of attraction.

These ravines almost always run up from the valleys
of the different plains rivers, until they reach the centre
of the table land which divides one watershed from
another — gradually becoming smaller and shallower,
until at length they run out to nothing in the surface
of the plain at the point indicated, which for this reason
is known among plainsmen as the " divide." The
importance of these divides to travellers crossing
the high plains can hardly be overestimated; because
from possessing a generally fairly level surface, they
furnish a pass practicable for wheeled traffic, through

* A typical instance of a " Ravine Country " occurs in India, between
Rawal-Pindi' and Jhelum, where a complete labyrinth of these channels,
all with precipitous banks of a deep-red colour, and varying from twenty
to fifty, or even sixty feet in depth, extend along the line of the N.W.
Railway for some forty miles.

Another smaller, but somewhat similar country is to be seen a little to
the northward of Gwalior, on the section of the Midland Railway
between Agra and Gwalior.

56 "DIVIDES."

a country which would otherwise be totally impassable.
An experienced plainsman however, by following the
line of the divide is able to avoid the ravines; and
though the route may often be of necessity a very
circuitous one, still in the end he can generally succeed
in conducting a train of waggons, or pack animals, by
this means, from one point to another, without meeting
any very serious obstruction.

The faculty of being able to distinguish the true " di-
vide" from false ones: that is to say, from those that
lead into a cul de sac, has always been esteemed one
of the best tests of a plainsman's abilities; and like
the gift of following a blind trail, or any other accom-
plishment, the art may be learned or at any rate the
instinct be largely developed by experience — and a
clever guide can generally tell by observing the lie of
the country, and especially by noting the direction of
the game paths, which of the many headlands he ought
to follow.

Buffalo, and probably most other kinds of heavy
game,* generally travel along the divides during their
migrations, and so save themselves the labour of
repeatedly crossing deep and precipitous ravines; many
of whose banks are besides covered with dense thickets
of brushwood, a thing always avoided, if possible, by
many kinds of plains animals, such as antelopes and
other timid creatures, who rely upon their speed and
quickness of vision for protection: instinct therefore
teaches these animals to shun the neighbourhood of
cover, on account of the concealment it affords to

* The ancient elephant paths in Ceylon and Southern India furnish
another excellent example of the same kind: these great natural game
paths will remain visible in the jungles for ages after the last elephant
has left its trail there.

FOLLOWING THE DIVIDE. 57

beasts of prey and other enemies. The consequence
is that divides are very often marked out by a
well-defined game path, and we have the autho-
rity of Colonel Dodge for stating, as regards
the American bison (Bos Americanus), that where a
regular beaten path of these animals exists, it almost
invariably, in such situations, follows the divide, and
that " nine times out of ten waggons can follow, wherever
a well-marked buffalo trail may lead." The Colonel
also relates an excellent instance of the way in which
an Indian guide led a waggon train by means of the
divides, through an otherwise almost impassable country.

" I received my best lesson, " (he says) " on plains craft,
from a Pawnee Indian, who took a party under my command,
with waggons, without delay or the slightest accident, over
a section of 'Bad Lands,' which after examination I believed
utterly impassable. The 'divide' followed was extremely
narrow and tortuous; in one place so very narrow as to re-
quire skilful driving for the passage of the waggons; the
ravines on each side being generally perpendicular banks,
from thirty to eighty feet deep." *

Some useful diagrams are given in Colonel Dodge's
book, showing the winding course generally followed
by "divides," and how it is possible, by following
their meanderings, to pass through a country, avoiding
both ravines and stream beds — a matter which it is
not easy to explain in words.

The bed of a river however may be taken to repre-
sent the exact opposite of the " divide" — and the level
lands along its edges are known as "bottoms." The

* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, by Colonel Richard
J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1877, p. 56.

58 DRY RIVER CHANNELS AS ROADS.

river follows the lowlands, as the divide does the head-
lands, yet the river in most cases, by simply winding
and turning among the hills, at length finds its way
down to the sea, without the necessity of cutting through
any considerable gorge, under ordinary circumstances,
throughout its whole course. The river channels there-
fore furnish another route by following which the hills
may be avoided ; river valleys are therefore, as we
know, often used by railway engineers for this pur-
pose— but it is not generally a good line for travellers
to follow f through a wild country of a rugged and
hilly character, unless there is a dry river bed of sand
or gravel, forming a natural road, because the ground
alongside of river beds is very often exceedingly broken
and obstructed by trees, bushes, swamps, ravines, and
other obstacles; and if the river is bordered by cliffs,
the stream, by its constant windings from the base of
one cliff to the other, renders progress impossible,
except at the expense of innumerable crossings, which
are almost always dangerous in such places, and often
quite impracticable. There is, besides, the risk of sudden
floods which, as we shall presently show, may at any
moment cause the utter destruction of the wayfarer,
overtaken during his passage through these defiles,
from which a speedy escape is often impossible.

Many of these defiles along the courses of great
rivers however are grand and impressive beyond de-
scription, and frequently present the finest natural scenery
in the country.

But the most wonderful of all these water-channels
are the Canons that traverse the highlands of Colorado,
and other parts of the south western territories of the
United States, which must certainly be ranked among

ROCK CUT CANONS. 59

the greatest wonders of the world. The word Canon
(pronounced ' Canyon' in Spanish) besides a gun-barrel, is
used to denote any narrow passage, such as these deep
gorges * — which are many of them cut through solid
rock; their walls sometimes descending, almost verti-
cally, for even thousands of feet below the surface of
the plain ; while at the bottom a foaming torrent usually
dashes along the rocky bed which, constantly flowing
from age to age, has gradually eaten away the living
rock, until in the course of time these marvellous
channels have been excavated.

The human atom, crawling cautiously along the upper
edge, and gazing into the giddy depths beneath, may
often see the river flowing, like a silver thread, far
down in the stupendous abyss — and it is quite possible
that the traveller passing along the surface of the plain
above may be actually perishing from thirst in sight of
the swift flowing waters: — indeed there can be little
doubt that such cases have frequently occurred.

But ere we proceed with our narrative, let us consider
for a moment the lesson which these scenes of savage
grandeur should convey to the mind of the thoughtful
traveller.

Every observer is aware that the tooth of run-
ning water is sharp, and cuts deeply, — and yet what
a picture of the enormous antiquity of the earth do
these Canons reveal to us. Think of the uncounted
ages it must have taken one of these rushing
torrents to excavate a single example of these won-
derful canons! and what a marvellous illustration it
affords of the tremendous power possessed by running

* See Neuman and Baretti's Spanish Dictionary. The word is
however of Colonial and not of Castilian origin when used in this sense.

60 THE CANON COUNTRY.

water for gradually cutting through even the hardest
rock. (This is termed the process of 'Erosion'). The
enormous volume of material alone that must have
been removed by the tireless labourer, during the
formation of one of these canons, is in itself a subject
full of wonder and instruction; as showing what may
be effected by apparently small resources, ceaselessly
working towards the attainment of a particular purpose.
Some of these canons for instance, as we shall pro-
ceed to show, extend uninterruptedly for hundreds of
miles through mighty rock-hewn gorges, compared
to which the greatest monuments of human skill and
labour fade into absolute insignificance — indeed it
would be difficult to find a more striking instance of
the littleness of man, when contrasted with the works
of Nature, than that which is here exhibited.

Thus the Grand Canon of the Colorado, which
is only one among many in that district —
" alone extends for a distance of about two hundred miles
westward of its junction with the ' Colorado Chiquito ' " (or
lesser Colorado) " and its walls rise almost sheer from the
water's edge to a height of from 4000 to as much as 7000
feet; while further down is 'The Black Canon,' which, with
a length of twenty-five miles, and a height of 1000 or 1500
feet, would be considered a magnificent phenomenon, were
it not thrown into complete insignificance by its more stupend-
ous neighbour." *

This wonderful river and its tributaries traverse the
great watershed to the westward of the Rocky Mountains
throughout its whole extent, and finally force their way
down to the sea , at the head of the Gulf of California,
most of the way through a succession of canons,

* Encyclop. Brit., Qth edition, Vol. vi, p. 163.

EXAMPLES OF GREAT CANONS. 6 1

which with those of several of its confluents, render
the Colorado River system undoubtedly the most won-
derful of any in the world.

Another good example of the rock-cutting capabi-
lities of water is to be found in the Grand Canon
of the Arkansas, in Southern Colorado, which is seen
from the train, on the Denver and Rio Grande Railway,
near Canon City — " where the Arkansas cuts its way
for eight miles through mountain walls of solid granite,
in some places 3000 feet high, amid scenery of incon-
ceivable majesty and sublimity." *

Then again, the Grand Canon of the Yellowstone
in the National Park (Wyoming), furnishes another,
and if possible still more wonderful instance of a
similar kind. Here the river, after plunging over
a precipice nearly 400 feet high, " flows for a distance
of some twenty [miles through a canon, 200 to 300
yards wide, between perpendicular walls 1200 to 1500
feet deep." Professor Hayden, in his report to Con-
gress on the Yellowstone region, in describing this
wonderful natural phenomenon, states that — "no lan-
guage can do justice to the wonderful grandeur and
beauty of the canon below the lower falls: the very
nearly vertical walls sloping down to the water's edge
on either side, so that from J:he summit the river
appears like a silver thread foaming over its rocky
bottom, f

Volumes might be, and indeed have been written upon
the marvels of the canon country, which until quite
recently had never been explored by civilized man,

*Appleton's Guide Book to the United States and Canada, 1882,
P- 390.

•j- Ibid. p. 411.

62 CROSSING PLACES IN CANONS.

but lay wrapped in the mystery of the unknown
wilderness, which it was as much as a man's life was
worth to attempt to penetrate; for it lay in the heart
of one of the most dangerous Indian countries upon
the American continent ; indeed the only guides who
knew anything of the intricate geography of this
region were the Indians or half-breeds belonging to
some of the wild tribes whose fastnesses lay in these
lonely wastes. They alone knew of the places where
it was possible to effect a crossing, which at the best
of times was generally a work of both difficulty and
danger ; for we need hardly say that, except at a few
widely separated points, it was impossible for anything
but a bird to pass. Travelling through such a country
therefore presented almost insuperable difficulties for
strangers, who may have had to wander for immense
distances along the dry and barren table lands which
skirt the borders of these mighty chasms, before a
practicable pass could be found, or even before they
could reach water.

For instance, in the report upon the United States
Government surveys of the great canon country of
Colorado, up to May 1874, Professor Powell states
that — "between ' Gunisson's Crossing' on Green River,
and the foot of the Grand Canon of the Colorado, a
distance of 587^- miles, it was not known that the river
could be reached at more than two points; and these
were so near together that only one of them could be
used as a deposit for supplies." * Both these places,
it seems however, were ancient passes, used by the

* Report to the United States House of Representatives on the
Survey of the Colorado River of the West, May 1874, by Professor
J. W. Powell (Smithsonian Institute, Washington), p. 4.

THE PRIESTS' FORD. 63

Indians from times immemorial; and the writings of
one of the early Jesuit missionaries show that it was
there that he had crossed when travelling through this
country under the guidance of the savages, a century
before, and the place is still called " El Vado de los
Padres," i.e., "the Priests' Ford," to this day.

Paths, until quite recently known only to the Indians,
have long existed, where at certain points a narrow
track descends the cliffs, and a similar one ascends at
the opposite side, by which these crafty and adventurous
savages used to effect a crossing, and so baffle pursuit,
when followed by troops, etc.

Advantage was no doubt taken of places where falls
have occurred in the cliffs, forming banks of debris,
sloping down at a steep angle to the water's edge;
and here sufficient beach occasionally exists at the
bottom by which people can make their way along
the bed of the canon, until a similar point of vantage
can be reached by which to ascend on the opposite
side. There are also many dry canons, without any
water at the bottom, which in the dry season, can be
used as passages by the Indians, and are practicable
as such, throughout their entire length. The U.S. Go-
vernment explorations and surveys, according to Pro-
fessor Powell, show that such places are sufficiently
numerous, and many of them consisted of — " profound
chasms, that are hundreds of feet deep, and that never
have a continuous stream for their entire length." *
The reports of the few travellers who have published
an account of their adventures in the canon country

* Report to the United States House of Representatives on the
Survey of the Colorado River of the West, of May 1874, by
Professor J. W. Powell, p. 7.

64 THE GREAT CANON OF THE YELLOWSTONE.

also inform us that the light of the sun is frequently
unable to penetrate into the depths of these gloomy
defiles, where a constant twilight prevails, even when
the sun is shining brightly overhead ; the sky itself at
such places appearing as a blue thread of light, seen
in the altitudes above.

Professor Hayden, for instance, in his splendidly
illustrated folio of the scenery of the Yellowstone Na-
tional Park, has supplied us with a reliable account
of his descent into the Grand Canon of the Yellowstone,
and says it took him an hour and a quarter to get
to the bottom, and he found that the river below con-
sisted of —

"a succession of rapids, which dash madly against the
rocky walls. The sense of danger " (he tells us) " is truly
harrowing, and the awful silence broken only by the sound
of the waves."— "The walls in many places," he goes on to
say, " slope vertically to the water's edge, leaving no beach,
and in places are eroded into fantastic shapes of towers,
spires, and gothic columns; in others they present fortress-
like fronts, or long slides of brilliantly coloured debris, or
massive rock, separated by jointage, resembling irregular

masonry going to decay " while at the bottom " the rocks

threw a dark grey shadow all round us. The sunlight does
not reach us, but gilds the trees above with its rays. The
scene is fearfully grand and surpasses description. The
ascent takes two hours; we have to crawl on our hands and
knees part of the way, and creep round ledges, knowing
that a single misstep will precipate us to the bottom. *

The most extraordinary accounts have from time to
to time been published, of the adventures which have

* The Yellowstone National Park and the Mountain Regions of
Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah, described by Pro-
fessor F. V. Hayden, Boston 1876, p. 45.

VOYAGE ON A RAFT DOWN A CANON. 65

befallen some of the white hunters and trappers who
have attempted to explore the great cafion country of
North America, which according to Professor Hayden
is a region "above 200 miles in length, and 150
miles in width, the whole of which may be said to be
almost inaccessible; as in attempting to traverse it,
one would be obliged to cross gorge after gorge, with
nearly vertical walls, 3000 feet or more in depth." *

Some of these daring adventurers, despairing of ever
finding their way out again, or being hunted by In-
dians, have in some cases been known to float down
the current through the canons, upon logs or rafts,
and after encountering numberless perils this has occa-
sionally been safely accomplished. We quote one such
case, on the authority of Mr. Bowles, editor of The
Springfield (Mass.) Republican, where a man named
White, about 1868, seems to have passed through the
Grand Canon of the Colorado in this way, and lived
to tell the tale. It seems that he was prospecting for
gold with a companion in Southern Colorado, when
being hunted by Indians, they made a raft and com-
mitted themselves to the waters at a point in Grand
River just before its junction with the Green. While
shooting the rapids and whirlpools the second man,
and the whole of the provisions, were swept off by
the tumultuous waters; but White, the surviving hero,
after a passage of fourteen days, seven of them with-
out food, upon these strange waters, furiously rushing
between frowning walls of rock, at length reached
Collville, in Arizona. "His entire journey on the river,"
we are told, " must have exceeded 500 miles, and he

* The Yellowstone National Park and the Mountain Regions of
Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado and Utah, described by Pro-
fessor F. V. Hayden, Boston, 1876, p. 45.

VOL. II. 5

66 SUDDEN FLOODS IN DRY CANONS.

represents that for most of the distance it was through
these high walls, impassable as a fortress, a dungeon
over a cataract." *

The risks incurred in traversing these places even
in their dry state, when there is no water at the bot-
tom, are however still very great on account of the
liability to sudden floods, which when they occur sweep
everything before them with irresistible violence; it
will be sufficient to quote a single instance of this
kind, which will convince the reader that this danger
is neither imaginary nor exaggerated.

It occurred about 1868 in the Apache country in
Arizona, and we give the story on the authority of
Mr. J. Ross Brown, an American gentleman, who
states that —

" A very singular and tragical occurrence took place about
two months previously to my visit. Some time in the month
of July two men with- their wives and three children started
from Aurora in a waggon for Big Meadows. The distance
is twenty-eight miles; when they were about half way, and
were passing through a rocky canon, unsuspicious of danger,
they observed some signs of rain; but thought it was nothing
more than a casual shower. Suddenly the sky darkened, and
they heard a loud roaring noise behind them. The men,
finding the horses unmanageable from fright, jumped out, and
scarcely had they touched the ground when they saw a solid
wall of water, about six or eight feet high, like a prodigious
wave breaking upon a beach in a storm. Before anything
could be done the torrent burst upon them, and the waggon
was instantly capsized and dashed to pieces on the rocks.
In less than a minute nothing was left to mark the tragedy :
women, children, waggon, and horses, all had disappeared.

* A Summer Vacation in Colorado, by Samuel Bowles, 1869, pp.
84 and 85.

TRAVELLERS SWEPT AWAY BY A FLOOD. 67

One of the men by a supreme effort climbed up the face of
the rock and managed to escape by grasping a bush." *

The man, who alone survived to tell the tale, brought
the melancholy intelligence to the neighbouring town,
and described in affecting terms the last struggles of
the unfortunate victims, and their piteous cries for
assistance before they were overwhelmed by the rag-
Ing waters ; an engraving representing the scene at this
moment is also given in Mr. Ross Brown's book.

This tragical occurrence naturally created great ex-
citement and sympathy among the community at the
time, and relief parties were at once sent out by the
citizens to try and recover the bodies, or relieve anyone
who might still chance to be alive, but it was not till
some considerable time afterwards that the bodies were
discovered, after the subsidence of the flood, several
miles below the spot where the accident occurred, in
a condition so battered and mutilated as to be almost
unrecognizable.

This anecdote conclusively shows the exceedingly
dangerous character of any attempt to make a passage
through these canons, even under the most favourable
circumstances ; and until regular roads are scarped out
in the cliffs, by engineering skill, above the possible
reach of floods, similar accidents will always be liable
to occur; but in the course of time, when this is
effected, the traveller of the future will doubtless be
enabled to penetrate, both in safety and comfort, into
the gloomy recesses of these great canons; and gaze
at his leisure, with awe-stricken wonder and admira-
tion, upon these mighty examples of Nature's power.

* Adventures in the Apache Country, by J. Ross Brown, New York,
1869, pp. 427 and 428.

68 "BLUFFS."

Another class of these impassable natural fortresses
consists of lines of cliffs, or " bluffs " as they are called
in America, which are sometimes found to extend as
a gigantic barrier across the plains, through a great
extent of country; and these, as examples of the work
of The Great Architect of Nature, are if possible even
more wonderful than the rock-hewn canon; because in
the latter case there is at least some apparent cause,
so plain that even the meanest intellect can understand
it, which has evidently been the medium by which
these channels have been excavated. But how shall
we account for these immense walls of rock, which
divide one table land of the plains from another? As
there is no immediate apparent cause which can
account for their existence, people are apt to pass these
lines of frowning battlements without ever giving a
thought to the means by which they were formed. —
" They were always there," it will be said, and it would
be a waste of time to try and fathom the mysteries
of the incomprehensible.

The wily Indian, for instance, whose whole life has
been passed in the constant endeavour to interpret the
signs of the wilderness, will from age to age pass and
repass along these grand escarpments, and his trained
vision will note every little item, which, though often
quite invisible until pointed out to the unpractised eye,
yet to his sharpened senses they will afford irrefragable
evidence of everything that has happened in the locality
for many days before he passed there as plainly as if
he had been there to see it.

For neither man nor beast can pass without leaving
a mark. Thus, the faintest impression in the sand, a
pebble turned over upon its bed, a few blades of grass

THE GREAT LINES OF CLIFFS. 69

pressed down in a certain direction, will each and all
afford unerring proofs of the previous passage of some
man or animal — and he will tell you to a nicety, by
means which it would be too intricate to attempt to explain
here, exactly what it was that made the mark :
how long ago, at what speed, and for what purpose,
it had passed.

But to him the beetling cliffs above convey no
meaning — no lesson. Yet, as Professor Powell is care-
ful to point out — " perhaps the most wonderful of the
topographical features of the country are these lines
of cliffs, escarpments of rock, separating upper from
lower regions, often vertical and impassable barriers,
hundreds or thousands of feet high ; and scores, or
hundreds of miles in length. " *

Everything upon the American continent seems to
be formed upon so vast a scale that it is not always
easy for the average stay-at-home Briton to realize
upon a small scale, what these great natural barriers
are like; if however we might venture to suggest an
example, we would refer the British enquirer to an
inspection of the Undercliff in the Isle of Wight — and
for two reasons, first because it gives a picture in
miniature of the great cliffs of the American plains
region, and secondly because the means by which
they were created are to some extent apparent.

To what great natural force shall we ascribe them ? —
Were they upheaved from the bowels of the earth
beneath? — or did some great subsidence of the plain
below leave them standing aloft as an eternal memorial
of some vast terrestial movement of former ages?

* Report to the United States House of Representatives on the Survey
of the Colorado River of the West, by Professor J. W. Powell, 1874, p. 9.

70 SUBSIDENCE IN THE CREATION OF CLIFFS.

The answer to these questions must of course always
remain more or less a matter of conjecture. Never-
theless, if we might venture to hazard an opinion, we
should decidedly be inclined to ascribe the existence
of these cliffs to subsidence. In "The Undercliff,"
for instance, there are numerous evidences which
point to the action of extensive land-slides — some of
which are matters of historical record.

We can come to no other conclusion that that the
great ranges of bluffs in North America were formed
in a precisely similar manner, by an extensive land-
slide upon a gigantic scale, possibly consequent upon
the softening down of substrata by the infiltration of
subterranean waters, or more probably still by the
withdrawal of the support afforded by the waters of
an ancient sea; of whose former presence the marine
shells, etc., found embedded in the stratified rocks,
afford, as geologists unanimously admit, indisputable
evidence. And as the experience of engineering works
shows, the lowering of the waters of a lake or other
inland reservoir, by drainage, etc., will almost always
produce upon the banks superficial land-slides, which
will often exactly represent in miniature the great earth
movements of which we have here spoken. In such
cases, there can be no doubt as to the exciting cause —
the support afforded by the mechanical pressure of
the water being gone the bank is no longer able to
stand; a fissure forms in its surface, the bank
cracks away from its former position, and slips down
to a lower level, so far as the force of gravity
admits of it — leaving a miniature cliff standing be-
hind it.

These land-slides are however merely one of the

GREAT LAND SLIDES. 71

many instances afforded by the study of natural phe-
nomena which show that the general tendency of
Nature is to smooth down excrescences, to gradually
lower the level of great mountain ranges, and so
efface the evidences of former convulsions. Against
this theory there is the supposed gradual upheaval
of the coast line, which is thought to have taken place
within historic times in some countries — but a simple
explanation of this phenomenon would seem to be
afforded by a possible slight alteration in the level of
the ocean which bathes their shores; and the encroach-
ment of the sea at other points, which is probably
a consequence of the same movement, would be capable
of similar explanation. Among the numerous and
complicated motions imparted to the earth by the
different natural forces (amounting in all, according to
the French astronomer Camille Flammarion, to 14
distinct movements) and the consequent continual and
gradual shifting of the terrestrial axis, it is easily con-
ceivable that these slight alterations of the position of
the ocean waters might occur. Moreover, the undue
accumulation or melting of the Polar ice would of
itself be sufficient to affect the general level of the
circum-terrestrial sea, to a very appreciable extent.

Leaving however these great questions to one side,
which involve abstruse problems of geological science,
capable only of a possible solution, after an exhaustive
study of the whole position, by competent specialists,
we shall merely advert to the fact that all over the
world the division of the land into a system of natural
terraces seems to be the rule instead of the exception ;
and a section giving the approximate contour of any
great continent is generally found to show a series of

72 NATURAL TERRACES.

such table lands, whose boundaries are usually denned
by ranges of hills, whose slopes gradually lead up to
the next superior plateau. This alteration in the general
level of a country is however apt to escape the observ-
ation of an unpractised eye, until it is demonstrated
on the applotment of a survey; it is only when precisely
the same thing occurs by a substitution of a range
of gigantic bluffs for slopes, that the fact becomes
evident to all, and excites astonishment.

Nevertheless, similar results effected by slopes instead
of bluffs may occasionally be seen executed by natural
agency, with splendid effect, in South America and
elsewhere. The traveller, in this latter case, sees before
him what appears to be a range of hills, and after
toiling up them until he reaches the top, instead of
the crest of a " divide" from which he can look over
and down into a valley beyond, he finds that he is
on the edge of a wide-spreading level table land, often
called " El Tablazo" by the Spaniards, which stretches
forth, it may be to the distant horizon— or, possibly,
in some cases, he may find that it is bounded on the
sky-line by the blue silhouettes of mountains, which
may mark merely the edge of another, and somewhat
similar, though more elevated plateau beyond.

Turning and looking back from a position such as
we have here attempted to portray, the traveller will
in many cases be rewarded by a magnificent panorama,
whose spacious grandeur and sublime combinations of
colour and distance convey to the senses, far more
even than the ocean, an idea of the infinite, in which
the human atom is dwarfed almost to nothing, and
becomes of small account indeed.

And now, if we consider for a moment as to how

THE FORMATION OF TERRACES. 73

the formation of these great natural terraces can be
accounted for, we humbly venture to suggest that we
see in those slopes the probable results of subsidence,
when the land was still in a soft condition, such as
that of clay or mud ; as distinguished from its probably
more or less hardened condition when it cracked away,
leaving the lines of towering bluffs upstanding, of which
we have already spoken ; beyond that we think it would
hardly be expedient at present to attempt to carry
this question.

There are many examples of these great elevated
table-lands in Nature, notably in Peru and Bolivia, in
South America, but above all in Thibet, where the
average level of the table-land may be taken as about
15,000 feet above sea-level. * This magnificent plateau
is bounded by some of the loftiest known peaks in the
world, many of them exceeding 20,000 feet in height,
while the dimension of the Thibetan mountain area,
from east to west, is about 2000 miles, and its average
breadth somewhat over 500 miles, f

Let the reader imagine, if he can, the gigantic nature
of the forces which have upheaved this immense region
to these altitudes — for mountain chains are created by
upheavals, as we shall show in due course. Hardly
inferior, however, either in extent or in elevation, are
the table-lands in the interior of Peru, ranging from
1 1 ,000 to 1 4,000 feet above sea-level, and bordered
by the great range of the Cordilleras. The famous
saline lake of Titicaca, almost equalling Ontario in
extent, is here found embedded in the hills, at a height

* Encycl. Brit. Vol. xi, Qth edit., p. 822.
I Ibid., p. 822.

74 VEGETATION OF THE PLAINS.

of 12,196 feet over sea-level * — and we believe that we
have the honour of being one of the first travellers
who brought photographs of this wonderful lake to
Europe.

Though a few stunted bushes are occasionally found
in sheltered spots at these great heights, these table-
lands, we may add, consist almost invariably of open
grassy plains, the cutting nature of the icy winds
generally preventing the growth of trees and shrubs.

Time and space will not admit of our considering,
except in the briefest possible manner, the herbaceous
vegetation which covers the great plains with a carpet
of verdure, and adorns their surface with its immense
variety of floral beauties: the amazing quantity and
luxuriance of the wild flowers being occasionally so
great, that in certain sections of country they almost
appear to usurp the place of grass, and create what
are sometimes known as " flower prairies, " by those
who know where to find them. Edible bulbs may also
frequently be found in considerable quantities; each of
the great prairie regions being generally characterized
by its own special varieties. The silver-leafed " Prairie
Turnip" (Ps or alia Esculentd] is a good instance in point,
and affords a vegetable by no means to be despised
by travellers crossing the high and dry plains of North
America. § These bulbs are about the size of an egg,
and are generally found growing one or two together ;
they are very common in parts of the Sioux country,
where they are eagerly hunted for by the Indians, and the
native name for them is Tipsinah, in the Sioux tongue.

* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for South
America, edited by H. W. Bates, p. 2IO.

§ See The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom, by P.
L. Simmonds, 1854.

THE PLAINS GRASSES. 75

Of grasses of course there are numerous varieties;
of these perhaps the far-famed Buffalo Grass (Ses-
leria Dactyloides] is the most remarkable; it covers
most of the higher and drier portions of the North
American plains with a very thick, dwarf-growing
herbage, three or four inches long, of an extremely
nutritious character, and eagerly devoured by all the
herbivora. Throughout the spring and summer it forms
a beautiful sward of emerald green, which later on
turns to a colour something like that of fresh hay; indeed
its most valuable quality is this peculiarity that it forms
excellent natural hay, which preserves throughout the
severest winters all its most nutritious qualities. Trans-
planted to localities where it is not a natural habitant,
it is said to have been found to change its character
so greatly that it could hardly be recognised as the
same plant, and becomes a tall, coarse, rank-growing
grass. *

Among other valuable and noteworthy varieties, the
tall gramma grass of the Texas plains (Chrondosiiim)
may be mentioned. It grows on the prairies there to
a height of two or three feet. Then the bunch grass
of California (Elymus Condensatus], and also the Tussock
grass (Dactylus Ccespitosa) of the Falkland Islands,
afford other conspicuous examples of valuable natural
forage plants of various descriptions of plains countries.

In the more settled lands of the State of Kentucky
too, where the plains first begin to replace the forest
growth, the country is celebrated for its famous pastures
of " blue grass " (Poa Compressa), said to be the finest
grass in America, and perhaps in the world, which is

* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, by Colonel R. J.
Dodge, U.S.A., 1877, p. 33.

7 6 GIANT PAMPAS THISTLES.

possessed of such valuable qualities for grazing" pur-
poses that Kentucky is called " The Blue Grass State. " *
This grass assimilates very closely to the " Poa Pratensis "
of our own meadows, and is sometimes considered
identical with it. f

As a weed we must notice the wonderful case of
the variegated leafed Pampas Thistle ( Carduus Giganteus
Variegatus] of South America, which is really in its
way one of the marvels of the vegetable world, as in
a few weeks it springs up so rapidly as to create
prickly and impassable thickets, in which a man on
horseback would be lost to view like a needle in a
haystack; indeed it would scarcely be an extravagant
flight of imagination to conceive the possibility of an
army marching out over these lands, and finding their
return two or three months later, barred by the
growth of these giant thistles (which cover enormous
areas in the Banda Oriental and else where §), as effectually
as by the bayonets of a superior force drawn up
across its line of retreat. The wild Cardoon (Cynara
Cardunculus] is another somewhat similar plant, but
has a far wider range of growth than the giant thistle
in South America. **

Here we must close our remarks upon the vegetation
of the Great Plains, not because there is any dearth
of much that is both interesting and instructive to
relate, but because we fear to overload these pages
with too great a mass of detail.

In like manner we must defer for the present all

* Dictionary of Americanisms, by J. S. Farmer.
f Encycl. Brit., 9th Edit., Vol. xiv, p. 43, Article "Kentucky."
§ Voyage of a Naturalist in H.M.S. Beagle, by Charles Darwin,
I4th edition, 1879, PP- I1[9> I2° and H8-
** Ibid., p. 119.

THE PRAIRIE INDIANS. 77

further consideration of the nature and habits of the
wild animals which find their home in these broad
pastures; until we come to the sections on hunting"
and shooting"; where we hope to be able to consider
these subjects somewhat in detail.

Meanwhile we propose to embody in the present
section a short account of the Prairie Indians: the wild
hunters and warriors who have inhabited the great
plains region of North America from a remote period
of antiquity. But a few years ago, these fierce and
warlike savages used to scour over the billows of this
grassy sea in numerous bands resplendent in all the
panoply of barbaric paint and feathers, living upon the
proceeds of the chase, and following the migrations
of the far-famed buffalo, which then swarmed literally
in myriads throughout the prairie region of the Far
West. And now, both have passed away for ever,
as it were like the phantom imagery of a dream-
exemplifying in the most striking manner the transi-
tory state of our earthly existence, even when applied
to whole races of mankind, so graphically described
in the Scriptural text, where it is said with dramatic
pathos that " Our days on the Earth are as a shadow
and there is none abiding." * So also, following the
same strain of thought, Shakespeare, our own great
master of dramatic description, has expressed this
identical idea under a slightly different form, in the
well-known passage beginning — " Life's but a walking
shadow." f And as a shadow accordingly both the
Indian and the buffalo have been relegated to the regime
of history. Of course, as we know, some few drunken

* / Chron. xxix, 15.
f Macbeth, Act v, Sc. 5.

78 ROBBER PLAINSMEN.

and degenerate examples of the red man still linger
upon the scenes of their former exploits; but as the
wild hunter of the prairie — the Bedouin of the West —
the Indian may be said to have vanished with the buffalo.
Many of his supposed representatives at the present
time are people of mixed blood, who it is to be feared
inherit most of the vices of the white man, with but
few or none of his virtues — and it is not a little
remarkable to find that this is generally so with
savage half-breeds everywhere: they rarely inherit
either the physical or moral good qualities of either
parent, but are an essentially degenerate race.

In connection with these and also other nomadic
plainsmen, it is worthy of note that history shows
that the natives of almost all the great plains regions
in the world consist of fierce bands of robber horse-
men, whose predatory forays have made them dreaded
with the surrounding nations. Upon the great plains
of North America these banditti are represented by
the Red Indian prairie tribes ; in South America, they
are represented by the Patagonian savages and other
pampas tribes, whose periodical irruptions from the
southwards were the scourge of the pampas region
until within quite the last few years; while the great
plains of Central Asia were under the domination of
the Turkoman and Tartar hordes, whose incursions
into India and into Eastern Europe have frequently
been recorded in history. Some of the invasions of
these fierce barbarians were also marked by about the
most fearful massacres that have been chronicled in
human annals. Then in North Africa, and Arabia,
the robber tribes of wandering Arabs have also left
imperishable records of their scarcely less barbarous

THE ARAB AND THE RED MAN. 79

exactions of blackmail, and deeds of violence upon
caravans of travelling merchants and other wayfarers.
These men have been for centuries the terror of the
oriental trader, and so continue still over large areas
of South Western Asia.

The characters and modes of warfare of almost all
these plainsmen bear a strong family resemblance,
though they consist of manifestly different races. These
points of resemblance are especially notable with regard
to the Red Indians and the Arabs— many of their
noblest characteristics are held in common, as also
many of their faults and vices.

We have, however, already given some account of
Arab life, which shows the many noble qualities with
which this people is endowed; and it must be said
that they have never been known to disgrace their
name and creed by the grosser cruelties which we
shall presently have to recount in the case of the
American savage.

But in attempting to give an impartial sketch of
Red Indian character and prowess it must be remem-
bered that one treads upon somewhat thorny ground,
because in America violent prejudices still exist upon
this subject. As painted by some of the dwellers
in the eastern cities, who have perhaps never seen a
specimen of a really wild Indian, the red man is
represented as a model of manly dignity and virtue-
all his faults, if he has any, being represented as the
results of ill-treatment by the whites. While the
causes of frontier wars are in the same way set down
to non-performance of treaties by the United States
Government.

On the other hand, the same ideal red man, as

80 THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND THE INDIANS.

depicted by the settler on the western plains, is
simply a bloodthirsty fiend, without one single redeeming
good quality: indeed, it used, as we have said, to be
a common saying on the frontier, that " the only good
Indian is a dead Indian."

It will therefore perhaps hardly surprise the reader
if we venture, after consulting almost every available
authority upon this subject, to adopt something like
the mean between these two extremes; and while
refusing to be blind to their many faults, still to
recognise the many unquestionably fine qualities of
this remarkable people.

That the Indians have had much to complain of, as
the eastern people assert, there can be no manner of
doubt; most of the treaties made with them by the
United States Government being treated as so much
waste paper by the western people: also where the
treaties stipulated (as they generally did) for furnish-
ing the Indians with goods, or rations — it is admitted
on all hands that but a very small proportion of what
was justly their due ever reached them; all the rest
being fraudulently made away with by dishonest agents,
contractors, and others. It is however but justice to
the U.S. Government to observe that the treasury,
generally, paid for these supplies upon an equitable
and even liberal scale. This would however be no
defence in law to the plea set up by the Indians; for
the United States were responsible for the wrongful
acts of their agents, and were manifestly bound to
see that the proper parties were paid whatever was
due to them.

It would be impossible however to enter into the
merits of such questions in these pages ; we shall there-

CAUSES OF INDIAN WARS. 8 1

fore merely observe that we think there is little doubt
that most of the troubles between the U.S. Govern-
ment and its Indian wards may be set down as
generally resulting- from these two principal reasons:
(i) the non-performance of treaties, and (2) the illegal
and aggressive acts of many of the white settlers.

On the other hand it would be absurd to suppose
that the whites could view with equanimity the pros-
pects of Indian raids upon their homes and families,
even though these were ostensibly made in retaliation
for notorious wrongs — nor would it be easy for us, in
any mere words to convey, within reasonable limits,
any adequate idea of the frequency, the extent, or
atrocious barbarity of the outrages from which almost
every part of the western frontier has suffered in turn,
at the hands of the various Indian tribes; and in
which unfortunately it was for the most part innocent
persons who suffered for the misdeeds of others; for
the Indian code of retaliation was by no means to seek
out and punish the evil-doer; but revenge was taken
upon the first unhappy white whom they might chance
to meet, regardless of whether he or she had done
anything to them or not. That being so, it can surprise
no one that a pitiless war of races arose, where no
quarter was either asked or granted on either side.
How many innocent people of all ages and sexes were
slain while crossing the prairies by the overland route
to California, during the prevalence of the gold excite-
ment for instance, will probably never be known; but
the numbers must be something enormous. Thus so
lately as 1866, before the troops which formerly
guarded the frontier had returned after the conclusion
of the civil war, we are told that according to the

VOL. n. 6

82 MASSACRES OF CALIFORNIAN EMIGRANTS.

estimates of Governor Crawford, of Kansas, the butch-
eries of settlers and emigrants had during the twelve
months amounted to some 5000 souls. * This calcula-
tion, we are told, was " received in the east with
general distrust," but according to Mr. McClure, cor-
respondent of the New York Tribune, who during a
lengthened journey of " 300 miles through the Rocky
Mountains," had had every opportunity of learning the
truth, from living witnesses resident on the spot, this
estimate is held not to be exaggerated, and writing
the fall of 1867 he says, that during that season —

"Hundreds of emigrants and settlers have fallen victims
to the scalping knife. How many lives have been thus sacri-
ficed, the nation will never know, as most of them have fal-
len without survivors to tell the story of their sad fate." —
Then as regards what Governor Crawford had said, he
continues — "Those who have spent any considerable time in
the west, have good reason to know that the number given
is not too large. I do not take up a paper published between
the plains and Oregon, that does not record some fiendish
savagery of the Indians; and there is hardly a cabin on the
Platte, or Smoky Hill route, that has not the memory of the
slain interwoven with its history." f

Again, many of the cemeteries, started on the founda-
tion of the numerous mushroom cities, and frontier
posts, which spring up throughout the western plains,
are places where a man might acquire a nightmare that
would not leave him for a week ; for it is stated on the au-
thority of numerous U.S. army officers, and others,
who must have known the facts, that in many of them,

* See a series of Letters published by the New York Tribune, and
other papers by Mr. A. K. McClure, republished in book-form, Phila-
delphia 1869, p. 355 — Letter No. 38 of October 21, 1867.

| Ibid., p. 355.

WESTERN FRONTIER POSTS. 83

at the period to which we refer, hardly one of their
silent tenants had died in his bed. Some were slain
in the frequent pot-house brawls that took place in these
lawless regions; but in the vast majority of cases the
record on the rude head-boards was " Killed by Indians "
—"KILLED" shall we say?

Alas ! many of these poor fellows were not only
" killed, " but had gone to their long homes after un-
dergoing all the prolonged tortures which the inge-
nuity of these red fiends could invent.

And yet we are told by the eastern philanthropist
that the blood of the western man had no cause to
boil at the recital of these numberless atrocities! So
deeply, as a matter of fact, was the whole cast of the
western thought affected by the memory of these
things, that the various Indian fights and " killings "
served as milestones to record the dates of local events,
and the distances, or exact locality, of particular spots,
which the speaker desired to impress upon the minds of
his audience.

Thus, an event did not occur last month, or last
year, but — "Jes' about the time Pete Kitchen's ranch
was jumped" — "The night before the Maricopa stage
war tuck in " —"A week or two arter Winters made
his last killin' in the Dragoons " — " The year the Injuns
run off Tully, n'de long bull teams" — "Th'night arter
DufHeld drawed his gun on Jedge Titus " — and so forth. *

If a man wanted to explain to another how far it
was to a certain point, it was not fifty miles, nor sixty
miles, but rather— "Jes' on the rise of the Mesa (table-
land), as you git to the place whar Samaniego's train

* On the Border with Crook, by John G. Bourke, Captain 3rd
Cavalry U.S.A., published 1892, p. 64.

84 PERILS OF THE I^IUIAN COUNTRY.

stood off (beat oflft the Apaches " — "A little way from
whar they took in Colonel Stone's stage" — or "Jes*
whar th'big killin' took place on th' long Mesa" —
and much more to the same effect. *

Such was the state of society at the western
frontier posts of the United States only a few years
ago, when even in the towns a man would as soon
have thought of going about unarmed, as of going
about without his clothes. While most positively, if
out upon the high plains, " a man had to keep his
eyes skinned," in western parlance, if he meant to
get back without " getting his hair lifted " (scalped).
The old rule of the frontier then was this — "When
you see Apache sign, be keerful, 'n when you don'
see nary sign, be more keerful. "f No man in fact
could go for a mile in many places, beyond the limits
of the posts, with the certainty that he would survive to
return; and to pass from one town to another by the
regular stage was a work of such imminent peril that
no one could ever tell whether he would reach his
destination alive or not.

And yet, there were men who from choice passed
their lives as stage-drivers in such districts! although
in that wild country, with only tracks for roads, one
would have thought driving a team of half wild
mules, by day or by night, would have afforded
ample employment for the faculties of even the most
adventurous man, without the additional excitement
of a possible attack at any moment from Indians,
under circumstances which might render successful
defence impossible.

* On the Border "with Crook, by John G. Bourke, Captain 3rd
Cavalry U.S.A., 1892, p. 64.
f Ibid., p. 27.

STAGE DRIVERS IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY. 85

These men were therefore of course always persons
of daring courage and reckless character; who rather
preferred living with their lives in their hands, to en-
during the monotony of a quiet life; and in the end
comparatively few of them, it may well be supposed,
ever died in their beds. The Indians generally got
them at last.

Captain Bourke gives us the following sketch of a
well-known character of this sort, who used to drive
the mail-coaches through the Apache country in
Southern Arizona. At dangerous moments he generally
used very wisely to make his trips under cover of the
darkness of night, when the Indians could not see
him. Moreover it is well known that on superstitious
grounds, many of the prairie Indian tribes (the Apaches
among the number), rarely make their attacks by night.
Then making a wide detour, away from the beaten
trail, he so arranged his movements as to reach his
destination at dawn, before objects could be clearly
distinguished at a distance. Yet, like the rest, this
daring fellow got killed by the Indians in the end.

But we must leave the Captain to tell his story in
his own way —

"The stage-drivers" (he remarks) "are an exceptionally
profane set, and this one, Frank Francis, was an adept in
the business. He has long since gone to his reward in the
skies, killed if I mistake not, by the Apaches in Sonora, in
1 88 1. He was a good 'square' man, as I can aver, and it
was Frank's boast, that no 'Injuns' should ever get either
Mm or the mail under his charge. 'All you've got to do
with 'n Injun's to be smarter nor he is. — Now, fr instance,
7n Injun'll allers lie in wait, 'longside the road, tryin' to
ketch th' mail. Wa'al I never don go 'long no derned road.
Savey ?— I jes' cut right 'cross lots (farms), 'n dern my skin

86 THE MINNESOTA SIOUX OUTBREAK.

if all the Injuns this side o' Bitter Creek kin tell whar to
lay for me' — and so the brave fellow would whip up his team,
and taking 'a shoot off the road,' would never return to
it until the faint tinge of light in the east announced that
dawn was at hand, and Tuscon in sight. " *

The annals of the western frontier are replete with
incidents of this sort, and quite a library of interest-
ing books has been written, containing accounts of the
hairbreadth escapes and deeds of daring of a similar
kind, which were of such every-day occurrence as to
be looked upon almost as mere ordinary episodes of
daily life. And this may be said to be true, in turns,
of pretty well every part of the United States frontier
throughout the prairie regions. At one time it was
Texas, or Arizona in the South, that was the worst;
but the most recent and principal instances of great
"killings" have occurred in the north; as for instance
on the occasion of the Sioux outbreak and consequent
massacres in Minnesota, in August 1862, when about
five hundred persons of all ages and sexes were bar-
barously murdered. A good many of the Indians con-
cerned in these outrages were well known to the
author of these pages. Then again there was the still
more recent case of the attack upon General Custer,
and the massacre of himself and nearly his entire com-
mand, by some of the bands of the same nation, under
their celebrated War Chief "Sitting Bull," on June
25th, 1876 ; nearly three hundred United States officers
and soldiers are said to have fallen on that fatal day,

Surrounded, as people on the frontier almost con-

* On the Border with Crook, by John G. Bourke, Captain 3rd
Cavalry U.S.A., 1892, p. 93.

WHITE FRONTIERSMEN. 87

stantly were, by these ever-present dangers and uncer-
tainties ; this nearly perpetual state of guerilla warfare
begat in them a spirit of self-reliance and of sleepless
caution and alertness, which probably made them the
raw material of the finest soldiers in the world. For
of course, in such a country a man was bound to be
constantly on his guard, whether living at home, or
travelling abroad ; for no one could ever tell the mo-
ment when an Indian outbreak or attack might occur.

To small parties of hunters and travellers crossing
the plains these remarks will naturally apply with still
greater force, for their position exactly resembled that
of soldiers on duty in the face of an enemy, upon
active service of the most arduous and dangerous kind,
where self-preservation alone compelled the maintenance
of unceasing vigilance, ready to spring to arms at
a moment's notice. And so long as this vigilance was
never allowed to sleep, the Indians who, unseen them-
selves, generally watched and followed every party of
strangers passing through their country, very commonly
hesitated to attack a well-armed party, even with very
superior numbers.

But such is the force of habit that men very often,
after marching from day to day, for a long period,
without meeting with any opposition, gradually became
lulled into a false sense of security, which frequently
proved fatal to them; for the moment the Indians
observed the slightest signs of carelessness, or of any
slackening of discipline, the fate of that party was sealed.

Colonel Dodge, whose great experience among the
Indians of the Great West has enabled him to write
decisively and to the point upon these matters, says—

"The Indian's great delight is the attack of a waggon

88 INDIAN ATTACKS ON OVERLAND WAGGON-TRAINS.

train. There is comparatively little risk, and plunder is ample.
For days he will watch the slow-moving line, until he knows
exactly the number, etc., of men that defend it. If a direct
attack involves too much risk, the next concern is to get
possession of the horses and mules. He will follow the
train, even for weeks, unseen and unsuspected, until, lulled
into false security, the guardians become careless, and like
a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the Indians rush into the
herd with whoops and yells, scare it into a stampede, and
in a moment all disappear together. " *

Now as regards this fatal negligence and want of
caution, we shall perhaps be pardoned for remarking,
before proceeding further, that we have frequently
observed and noted the vast difference that exists
between the educated and the uneducated man, in this
respect. To our own mind there is nothing which
more clearly marks the different cast of thought,
which distinguishes persons of the lower class from
those above them, than this matter of systematic
vigilance and caution. The commpn man may be
induced to exercise vigilance for the day, but so far
as our experience goes it is often almost impossible
to get persons of the lower class to adopt any kind
of systematic precautionary measures. Let any large
employer of labour or director of works, or officers
serving in H.M's forces by land or sea, think of this
for a moment; and we venture to believe that few of
them will be disposed to dispute the truth of this
assertion. The immense difficulty of getting men of
this class to observe the most ordinary precautions,
even when working in the most risky and dangerous
employments, is everywhere well known; and though

* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, by Colonel Richard
J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1877.

WANT OF CAUTION AMONG UNEDUCATED MEN. 89

the case of most people of the savage races, and also
of white men wholly destitute of anything like book-
learning, living upon the frontier, under conditions
such as we have described, may seem to supply
instances which are opposed to these views — we believe
that they do so only in appearance.

That many of the scouts and plainsmen of the Great
West (who are often wholly untaught except in the
crafts and experiences of the wilderness) furnish us with
remarkable instances of extraordinary and sleepless
vigilance and sagacity, of which many a veteran soldier
might take copy with advantage, we do not for a
moment deny ; we would merely point out, that if un-
taught in other respects, he is a man highly trained
by a lifelong education in this particular way. Some
of these men were models of unceasing watchfulness,
and keen observation of all the signs of the wilderness,
such as puts to shame the more highly educated in-
tellect of his literary companion ; but to our mind, this
does not affect the force of the several observations
which we have already ventured to make upon this
head.

In continuation of the subject which we were dis-
cussing previous to this digression, namely the necessity
for unremitting vigilance on the part of travellers pass-
ing through a hostile country, the observations of Mr.
Cremony, who was Indian Interpreter to the U.S.
Government boundary exploring expedition in Texas,
under Mr. Bartlett, seem to us worthy of recording.

" You must never (he says) permit zeal to outrun discre-
tion,— a well-appointed party may travel from one year's end
to the other without ever seeing an Indian, or any trace of
his existence ; thus travellers become careless and fall an

QO NECESSITY FOR SLEEPLESS VIGILANCE.

easy prey to their sleepless watchfulness. There are others
who will not be convinced that the eyes of the Indians are
always upon them, because they see nothing to indicate the
fact ; but the truth is, every move you make, every camp
you visit, is seen and noticed by them with the keenest
scrutiny. If they perceive that you are careful and always
on your guard and prepared for any emergency, they will
hesitate to attack, even with ten times your force, especially
if the party does not offer sufficient inducement for plunder;
but if they observe the least neglect you will be assaulted
with every probability of their success." *

These attacks by the Plains Indians, as we have
before remarked, were fortunately seldom made under
cover of darkness, and although notable instances to
the contrary may be cited, we believe it is generally
admitted that on account of superstitions and other
reasons they usually elected, in the vast majority of
cases, to make their attacks by day; on this head Mr.
Cremony further observes:

"Let it be borne in mind that the Apaches have hardly
ever been known to attack at night. Under cover of darkness
they will steal into camp, with wondrous skill, in hopes of
robbery; but that is the extent of their night operations.
Their onslaughts are almost invariably made by day, and at
such times and places as tend to create the greatest sense
of security. When they mean mischief, no marks are to be
seen, no tracks, no signs observable, and the unsuspecting
traveller is lulled into a fatal belief that no Indians are near,
and is caught as surely as a spider catches the confid-
ing fly."f

What is true of the Apaches, is true of pretty well
all the Indian tribes, whose war tactics are generally

* Life Among the Apaches, by John C. Cremony, published 1868,
pp. 138—9.
f Ibid., p. 40.

APACHES ON THE WAR TRAIL. 9 I

substantially the same all over the plains of the Great
West. Surprise is their great weapon, and the basis
of nearly all their operations. Attacks are almost in-
variably made with a view to take their opponents
unawares; and where it is evident that "surprise" is
not likely to succeed, the attack itself will generally
be adjourned sine die; for the same reason night
attacks, being peculiarly liable to miscarry, are pro-
bably unpopular with the Indians, and are seldom
resorted to. This may explain their " religious M
objection to them.

When darkness has fallen, the student of military
history will be well aware, events may often so turn
out as to render an attacking party the surprised,
instead of the surprising. The wily Indian therefore
prefers to see what he is doing, before risking his
skin, and therefore generally elects to trust to his
sagacity and intimate knowledge of the country to find
a suitable opportunity to surprise his enemy by day-
light.

The system of ravines and "coulees," which we
have already referred to as constituting a feature of
the plains regions, peculiarly lends itself to this species
of attack, and forms natural hiding-places for a skulk-
ing enemy. The American General Custer, in his
book relating his personal experience among the Plains
Indians, gives a graphic description of an attack made
upon a detachment of U.S. troops under his command
under such circumstances.

" The escort (he says) was moving over a beautifully level
plateau. Not a mound nor a hillock disturbed the evenness
of the surface for miles in any direction. To the unpractised
eye there seemed no recess in which an enemy might be

92 THE SCOUT'S PROPHECY

concealed, yet such was not the case. Ravines of greater or
less extent, though not perceptible at a glance, extended almost
to the trail over which the party was moving. These ra-
vines, if followed, would be found to grow deeper and deeper
until they would terminate in the valley of some stream, and
were the natural hiding-places of Indian war parties, waiting
their opportunity to dash upon their unsuspecting victims.
They serve the same purpose to the Indians of the timberless
plains, that the ambush did to those accustomed to fight in
the forests."

Then he goes on to show with what unerring* sagacity
the experienced scout who acted as guide to the party
noted and commented upon the circumstances.

" Comstock's keen eyes (he proceeds to say) took it all in at
a glance, and he remarked to Colonel Crook and Lieutenant
Robbins, as the three rode together at the head of the co-
lumn, ' Ef the Injuns strike at us at all, it will be just about
the time we are comin' back over this very spot. Now mind
what I tell ye all.' " *

How truly Comstock, a well-known and celebrated
scout, had interpreted the course of events, was subse-
quently shown by an attack occurring exactly as he
had prophesied, upon the return journey; which being
anticipated beforehand, owing to his sagacity and
warning, was easily repulsed with severe loss to the
assailants. This is an admirable instance of the ines-
timable value of the services of those trained and
vigilant, though otherwise illiterate plainsmen and
warriors, many of whom, while apparently gazing
abstractedly into space and taking no note of anything,
are often, as we have repeatedly had occasion to

* My Life on the Plains, or Personal Experiences with Indians, by
General Geo. A. Custer, U.S.A., 1865, pp. 63 — 4.

A.U.S. MILITARY PARTY CUT OFF. 93

remark, silently employed in taking1 in every feature
of the country, down to its minutest details. *

We shall trouble our readers' with but one other
anecdote of this remarkable man, given upon, another
and more solemn occasion, when a young lieutenant
of the U.S. Army, named Kidder, was missing, and
as subsequent events proved had been waylaid and
barbarously murdered with his whole command by a
war party of Sioux Indians. The scout stood by,
listening in silence to the opinions of the officers,
who we are told,

"were grouped near head-quarters, discussing the subject
then uppermost in the minds of all. Finally Comstock spoke
as follows: 'Well Gentler*?;? (emphasizing the last syllable
as was his manner) before a man kin form any ijee as to
how this thing is likely to end, thar are several things he ort
or be acquainted with. For instance now, no man need tell
me any pints about Injuns. Ef I know anything, it's Injuns;
for you see Injun huntin' and Injun fightin's a trade all by
itself, and like any other bizness, a man has to know what
he's about ; or ef he don't, he can't make a livin' at it. My
experience among you army folks has allus bin that the
youngsters among ye think they know the most, and this is
particularly true ef they have just come from West Point.
Ef some of them young fellars know'd as much as they
b'lieve they do, you couldn't tell 'em nothing; but the fact of
the matter is this, they couldn't tell the diff'rence twixt the
trail of a war party, and one made by a huntin' party, to
save their necks. Half on 'em, when they first come here,
can't tell a squaw from a buck, because both ride straddle,
but they soon larn. But that's neither here nor thar — I'm
told that the lootinent we're talking about is a newcomer,

* Such instances too, make good what we have said as to the
uselessness of mere book-learning to help a man to guard against the
perils which beset him, when surrounded by the pathless wilderness.

94 WHITES FOUND KILLED BY INDIANS.

and that this is his first scout. Ef that be the case it puts
a mighty onsartin look on the whole thing, and twixt you
and me gentlemen, he'll be mighty lucky ef he gits through
all right." *

Again the sagacity of the scout had predicted cor-
rectly, for some time afterwards the dead bodies of
the Lieutenant and his whole party of ten sol-
diers and an Indian guide were found frightfully dis-
figured and stuck full of arrows, by General Custer
and the force sent in pursuit. The event took place
in July 1867, near Beaver Creek in Nebraska, and
General Custer thus describes the scene:

" We observed buzzards floating in the air ; a rank stench per-
vaded the atmosphere, and hastening to the spot a sight met our
gaze which even now makes my blood curdle. Within a limited
circle were the mangled bodies of poor Kidder and his party,
hacked and disfigured beyond recognition. Every one scalped,
and his skull broken, except the Sioux chief Red Bead (their guide)
whose scalp had been removed and thrown down by his
side, in accordance with a custom prohibiting Indians wearing
the scalp of one of their own tribe. Some of the bodies lay
in piles of ashes, showing that the savages had put them to
death by the terrible tortures of fire. The sinews of the
arms and legs had been hacked off and the features so
defaced that it would be impossible to recognise one of the
victims. Each body was stripped, and pierced with from
12 to 50 arrows left sticking in them. The details of the
fearful struggle will never be known, yet the surrounding
circumstances satisfied us that Kidder and his men fought
as only men can fight when the watchword is 'victory or
death '."f

There can be little doubt that the party had been

* My Life on the Plains, or Personal Experiences with Indians, by
General Geo. A. Custer, U.S.A., 1875, P- 74-
f Ibid., p. 77.

DESTRUCTION OF GENERAL OUSTER'S COMMAND. 95

surprised and hunted by a very superior force of
Indians, for the place was located in the midst of a
thicket of bushes bordering the river, where a success-
ful defence must have been exceedingly difficult, and
where the chances were evidently all upon the side
of the Indians. In fact they would not have attacked
at all unless they had been.

It is not a little remarkable that General Custer,
the officer who relates this history, was himself des-
tined to perish shortly afterwards, in much the same
sort of way, while in command of a very much larger
force of United States troops. This event took place
on June 25th, 1876, on Little Horn River, in Montana,
and was one of the most disastrous engagements of
the kind which has befallen the U.S. Army during
modern times, General Custer and his whole force
consisting of some 300 officers and soldiers having
been almost completely destroyed by the united bands
of Sioux Indians, some 2,500 strong, led by their
celebrated War Chief, " Sitting Bull. " In this case also
the troops fell into an ambush, and after a most gallant
defence were eventually overpowered and hardly a man
escaped to tell the tale. Then again as regards Comstock,
the scout of whose sagacity we have related some anec-
dotes, he too was in the end killed by the Indians in time
of peace, while returning home from an Indian village
after nightfall. A party of about a dozen young Indians
suddenly attacked and murdered him for the sake of
a beautiful white-handled revolver which the Indians
had long looked upon with covetous eyes, as they
supposed it to be of extraordinary value, because he
constantly carried it, and always refused all offers made
for it, no matter how tempting they might have been.

96 MURDER OF A CELEBRATED SCOUT.

It is possible that the poor fellow may have taken
drink on that occasion, but however that may be, for
once his customary vigilance slumbered, and so he
too, notwithstanding that he ought to have been the
last man to have let the Indians see him in possession
of such an article, or to have trusted himself out alone
with it upon him, at such a time and in such a place,
fell a victim to an act of momentary want of caution
and carelessness.

It is, however, " a good horse that never stumbles, "
and the case itself is worth noting and remembering,
as an excellent instance of the fatal effects of even
momentary want of caution, and also of the folly of
exhibiting before the eyes of strangers in a wild country
any article of great apparent value — there being no
surer way of incurring the risk of being certainly
robbed, and perhaps murdered, as in Comstock's case.

It has often been remarked that a series of outrages
of this kind perpetrated upon the whites has eventually
proved the precursor of an Indian war, and the fact
of their occurrence is sufficient to show that mischief
is certainly brewing; for the Indians, who are them-
selves universally strong believers in the law of reta-
liation, would never sanction the commission of outrages
by members of their nation, unless they were prepared
to face the prospect of war. Wherever, in fact, a
civilized government has to deal with savage races,
this same rule may be held to apply, namely, that the
occurrence of an apparently organized series of outrages
may be regarded as the almost certain precursor of
an impending rising

The cruelties which always accompany the outbreak
of savage warfare invariably form one of its most

BARBARITIES OF SAVAGE WARFARE. 97

distressing features, for their implacable vengeance as
a rule spares neither age nor sex, and it is considered
equally meritorious for a savage warrior to destroy an
infant or an aged woman, as to take the life of any
one of the warriors attached to the enemy's camp.
The red man has however always been conspicuous
for his ruthless barbarity, the torture of prisoners
following their capture where time and circumstances
admit of it, almost as a matter of course; nor does
his resentment end with the death of an enemy, for
even the bodies of the fallen are almost always subjected
to mutilation; nor is it at all difficult, according to
Colonel Dodge:

"to tell from the nature of the mutilations whether the
bodies fell into their hands before or after death; if it be
pierced with many bullet holes, stuck full of arrows, cut or
slashed with deep and careless gashes, the spirit had passed
before the Indians got possession; but artistic dissections,
Mayings, dislocations, the breaking and splitting of fingers and
toes, etc., indicate that the poor fellow went to his long home
with all the accompaniments of pain and horror that these
devils can devise." *

The process of regular torture practised upon captives
is a subject over which we would willingly draw a
veil, were its perpetration not already notorious; and
we extract the following details from Colonel Dodge's
book, which may be regarded as a high authority on
all matters concerning the Plains Indians:

"The Indian" (as the Colonel remarks) "is thoroughly
skilled in all methods of torture, and well knows that by fire
it is the most exquisite, if it can only be prolonged. He there-

* Our Wild Indians, or 33 Years' Experience among the Red Men of
the Great West, by Lt.-Colonel Richard J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1882, p. 538.

VOL. II. 7

98 THE FIERY ORDEAL.

fore resorts to it when time and opportunity serve. The
victim is 'staked out' (that is, both hands and feet, stretched
widely apart, are made fast to pickets driven firmly into the
ground so that movement of any kind is almost impossible).
He is then pleasantly talked to ; it is the best kind of a joke.
Then a small fire is built near one of his feet; when that
is so cooked as to have little sensation, another is built near
the other foot; then the legs, arms, and body, until the
whole person has been crisped. Finally a small fire is built
on the naked breast, and kept up until life is extinct." *

An instance of this kind occurred in 1868, when an
attack was made by Sioux Indians upon a station on
the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Some men who were
herding stock in its vicinity were captured almost
without resistance and carried off by these savages.

" The remaining two or three men successfully defended
themselves, to the great exasperation of the red skins, who
after losing several men, drew off. Just at nightfall they took
their prisoners to a position in plain view, but beyond rifle
range of the station, stripped them, and staked them to the
ground, built a fire on the breast of each, and while some
sat warming themselves with great apparent satisfaction, the
others indulged in a dance of rejoicing. The cries and groans
of the unfortunate men could be plainly heard by their friends,
but nothing could be done ; and it was not till far on in the
night that the cessation of complaints proved that life was
extinct. Next morning the Indians were gone, but the black-
ened and half burned bodies were found still fastened to
the ground, scalped and terribly mutilated, and one, an
unusually hairy man, almost skinned." f

Here we shall take leave of this revolting subject
and proceed to give a short sketch of the redeeming

* Our Wild Indians, or 33 Years' Experience among the Red Men of
the Great West, by Lieut.-Colonel Richard J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1882,

P- 538-

f Ibid., p. 529.

THE INDIAN ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS. 99

qualities of Indian character. As we have already hinted,
this portion of our subject will probably receive but
scant acceptance upon the Region of the Great Plains,
throughout America, where but few persons will be
found to admit the existence of a single redeeming
quality in the composition of the red man. The
bitterness of race hatred is still too keen for that, and
no suggestion of the kind would be listened to.

The immense natural sagacity which these people
show in the way they make themselves at home in
the midst of the wilderness, and the apparently mar-
vellous faculty which they exhibit in interpreting the
meaning of every sign left behind by man, or animals,
in their goings to and fro, throughout their country,
renders it absurd however to deny that they are possessed
of talents of a certain kind, of a very high order.

Colonel Dodge gives the following picture of the
solitary Indian thrown upon his own resources, in the
midst of the plains of the great west:

"Unlike the white man, the Indian never feels so safe as
when entirely alone. The fear of surprise is not entertained
by the solitary wanderer. He has no fears for his rear, and
in advancing he relies on his own sagacity and caution. He
seldom makes a fire, and never sleeps near one " (neither the
light nor smoke of it can therefore betray him into the
enemies' hands). " If he sees signs of an enemy he hides
himself in some place from which he can watch, and doubles
and hides among rocks and thickets, forcing pursuers to hunt
him by the slow process of trailing. In this way he protracts
pursuit till dark, and under its friendly cover places as much
distance between himself and the dangerous neighbourhood
as possible." *

* Our Wild Indians, or 33 Years* Experience among the Red Men
of the Great West, by Lt.-Col. R. J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1882, p. 554.

100 THE WHITE MAN LOST ON THE PRAIRIE.

Contrast this calm self-reliance and sagacity with the
conduct of many a white man, temporarily losing1 his
way, and left out even for a single night upon the
prairie, away from his friends. It is by no means an
unknown, or perhaps even a very uncommon circum-
stance, that sheer dismay and fright have actually
deprived persons of their reason on such occasions, and
they will rush aimlessly about at full speed, in the vain
hope of finding their party, until they drop from
exhaustion. This affection is known as "the plains
madness " all over the prairie region of the great west ;
and one of its most characteristic symptoms is this
impulse to keep constantly moving as long as the
strength holds out, but without any definite object in
view — indeed the victim generally wanders in circles.

The number of such cases which have been from
time to time recorded are unfortunately very great,
and instances have frequently been known where men
have become so completely crazy with terror that they
have fled from their own friends, who had come to
their rescue and have had to be captured like wild
animals, and forcibly carried back to home and safety.

The stoicism of the Indian is unruffled by all such
considerations; indeed it is very doubtful if he ever
loses his way for long. Should a dense fog, snow-
storm, or darkness overtake him, he accepts the situation
and like a sensible being, waits, and rests with unruf-
fled stoicism until the obstacle to progress has disappeared.
Nothing however can be more remarkable than the
unerring instinct with which an Indian preserves his
consciousness of direction and localities ; he will guide
his course, even through an unknown country, with
undeviating certainty, directly to his objective point;

THE INDIAN SENSE OF DIRECTION. IOI

no windings or turnings of the road rendered neces-
sary by natural obstacles puzzle him; his knowledge
of direction is as true as the attraction of the magnetic
needle to the pole.

Nothing excites the unfeigned astonishment of the
white man, first brought into contact with the red,
more than this Indian faculty of never losing his sense
of direction and finding his way from place to place,
through the trackless wilds of nature. There are some
few white men who acquire it, more or less, or perhaps
some very few who even naturally possess it, but the
gift is a rare one. A notable instance of a white
man developing this inestimable gift of locality was
observed in the late Confederate General Stonewall
Jackson, whose conspicuous gallantry and military
talents excited the admiration of the world during the
war of Secession. He was not a " born soldier" how-
ever, for he was educated as a West Point Officer,
though he had retired subsequently from military life,
and had for some time before the war followed the
homely calling of a schoolmaster and preacher.

And speaking of military genius — if there is such
a thing as a born soldier, which may well be doubted —
it is certainly to be found among the red men. The
tactical skill, and high military talent for desultory
warfare exhibited by the Indians, we venture to think,
must be conceded by their bitterest enemies ; and prob-
ably by none is this more frankly admitted than by
United States army officers who have passed their
lives upon the frontier.

Most of these gentlemen are themselves men of
considerable attainments, in a military point of view,
and well qualified to speak with authority on this

102 THE RED INDIAN AS A WARRIOR.

subject. Colonel Dodge for example, thus speaks of
his Indian adversary " Red Cloud, " head chief of the
Ogallalla Sioux; against whom he served in Montana,
and who with conspicuous skill —

" avoiding any general or even serious engagement, so harassed
all trains and expeditions that the few troops then in the
country could scarcely be said to hold even the ground they
stood upon. Several forts were established, and they protected
only what was inside the palisades. A load of fuel could
not be cut outside without a conflict. This at last culminated
in the terrible massacre of Fort Phil Kearney, in which half
the garrison perished to a man."*

Now Colonel Dodge with his long experience among
the Indians of the Great West, we regard as an un-
impeachable witness in such matters. No authority
stands before his, and surely it would be difficult for
one warrior to speak of another in higher terms
of praise (in a military sense) than these. The poor
Indian, fighting for the hunting grounds of his
fathers, it must be remembered, had neither forts
nor arsenals, nor hospitals, nor magazines to fall
back upon. His basis of operations was the desert,
and his scanty supplies were drawn from the stores
which the Great Spirit above had liberally granted
everywhere for the use of man and beast; but beyond
that he had nothing but what he could carry with
him upon his own person. That being so, he never
had supplies sufficient to maintain any considerable
force together for any length of time in one place.
Savage warfare is therefore necessarily reduced to a
war of outposts and detachments, operating independ-

* The Plains of the Great West, by Lt.-Col. Richard J. Dodge,
U.S.A., 1877, p. 269-

THE RED MAN AS AN IRREGULAR CAVALRY SOLDIER. 1 03

ently of each other, and constitutes at once both the
strength and weakness of the wild man's position ; but
at the same time this description of warfare opens out
unrivalled opportunities for the exhibition of individual
prowess and gallantry of the highest order. There
are probably few competent judges who will be disposed
to deny the possession of these attributes, or military
virtues, to the red warrior.

Take the instance of his conduct in the field as a
cavalry soldier. What says Col. Dodge of him in this
respect ?

"Indians never receive a charge, and rarely make one.
When charged, a portion of the array immediately in front of the
charging force, breaks, and melts away into individual Indians.
The broken Indians wheeling in circles, form on the flanks,
to attack whenever practicable, or break again, when charged.
Should an attacking force, carried away by excitement, become
scattered in the pursuit, its defeat and destruction is almost
sure. The magnificent riding of the Indian and his superb
drill in this give him an immense advantage. " *

Here again we venture to think it would be impossible
to speak more highly of the Indian in his capacity
of an irregular cavalryman.

Time and space will however prevent our following
this subject into greater detail, and we shall proceed
to sketch the Indian from the point of view of his
moral worth. To be poor and at the same time to
be honest, in the midst of plenty, and of temptation,
has universally been regarded as moral worth of a
very sterling kind. Can an Indian be said to possess
this qualification?

* Our Wild Indians, or 33 Years' Experience among the Red Men of
the Great West, by Lt.-Col. R. J. Dodge, U.S.A., 1882, p. 378.

104 THE RED MAN'S SENSE OF HONOUR.

There can be no doubt that the degraded specimens
of the Indian race who hang about the settlements
are most of them thieves; nor can it be gainsaid that
the Indian in his tribal capacity mostly lives by what
we should call thieving ; that is to say he prides him-
self on his skill in plundering waggon trains, and running
off the horses and cattle of settlers ; but he does so in
his capacity of warrior, and regards the " plunder " as
so much contraband of war, lawfully subject to capture ;
in the same way that an enemy's shipping is held to
be a lawful prize by the navy of a civilized state.
Without desiring to defend these Indian forays against
innocent white settlers, there is still something to be
said in mitigation of their conduct, for it must be
remembered that their lands were being seized upon,
and their hunting grounds destroyed, by white stran-
gers, very often without even the semblance of com-
pensation.

But when fairly treated, there is ample evidence to show
that Indians have a strong sense of honorable feeling, in
the repayment of debts, and in the fulfilment of engage-
ments, when they enter into them with whites whom they
know and regard as friends. Of this the Hudson Bay
Company has had ample experience, and they found
that when they trusted Indians with the necessary outfit
to carry on the business of fur-trappers they almost
invariable repaid the loan with strict honesty. We
were personally assured of this by many experienced
officers of the Company, who asserted that when an Indian
failed to perform his contract it was almost invariably
through misfortune, such as the loss of traps, or of
peltries, illness, or other unavoidable causes.

Captain Bourke, U.S.A., makes the following ob-

A U.S. OFFICER ON INDIAN- HONESTY. 105

servations respecting the honesty of the Apaches, a
tribe almost always at war with the whites, and one
of the most dreaded of all the tribes upon the frontier.
Some few of them however had entered the U.S.
Military Service, and of these —

"no instance" (he says) "can be adduced of an Apache
sentinel having stolen any of the Government, or other pro-
perty, he was appointed to guard. Apache scouts, enlisted
to carry on General Crook's campaign against 'Geronimo',
remained for nearly a week at Fort Bowie, and during that
time made numbers of purchases from the post trader, Mr.
Sydney R. De Long. These were all on credit, and some
months after, wishing to learn something definite in regard
to the honesty of this much maligned people, I went to Mr.
De Long and asked him to tell me what percentage of bad
debts he had formed among the Apaches. He examined his
books and said slowly, 'They have bought $ 1780 worth, and
they have paid me back every single cent.' — 'And what
percentage of bad debts do you find among your white
customers ? ' — A cynical smile and a pitying glance was all
the reply vouchsafed."*

Mr. Delano, an Indian Trader in California and Ore-
gon, gives his testimony to the same effect:

"I was completely in their power, and might have been
killed or robbed at any moment" (he tells us) "but while I
was with them I was not aware that I lost the worth of a
dollar, though I had $5000 worth of goods with me at the
time. Yet they would steal from passers-by, but my con-
fidence in them was never abused, "f

This makes good what we have already stated
respecting the peculiar views of Indians in the matter

* On the Border with Crook, by John G. Bourke, Capt. 3rd Cavalry
U.S.A., 1892, p. 124.

f Life on the Plains and in California, by A. Delano, 1857, p. 310.

106 INDIAN HONESTY IN REPAYMENT OF DEBTS.

of honesty. They may steal, but will respect the pro-
perty of traders living in their midst, with whom they
have business relations, in accordance with the terms of
the old adage " There is honour even among thieves. "
We might go on to cite instance after instance in proof
of what we have here advanced, did space admit of it, but
we must bring this section of our w^ork to a close, and
passing further towards the snowy regions of the North,
we shall have another opportunity of depicting the
red man under the leafy shadows of " The Great
Forest Region of the Temperate Zone."

CHAPTER IX.

THE GREAT FOREST REGION OF THE
TEMPERATE ZONE.

Small Proportions of this Zone in the Southern Hemisphere. Its
Geographical Limits. The Bush Forest upon its Arctic Margin. In-
fluences of Ocean Breezes upon Tree Growth. The Primeval Forest of
Ancient Europe. Great Britain as a Forest Country. The Royal
Engineers as Forest Sappers. Forest Growths within the Arctic Circle.
The Primeval Forest of Canada. The Intense Severity of Winter before
the Clearances. The Influence of Human Agency in the Modification
of Climate. Evolution of Life upon Ocean Islands. Seeds conveyed by
Natural Agencies for Immense Distances. Mr. Darwin's Experiments.
Spring Arrivals of Geese in Canada with Rice in their Crops. Polar
Bears on an Iceberg at Sea. The Question of Islands being "Cuts off"
from Ancient Continents. The Irish Fossil Elk. A Norwegian Forest.
The Formation of Straight Poles. Modern Destruction of Ancient For-
est. The Process of Clearing the Forest in America. Ruthless De-
struction of Timber and Game. American Backwoods Settlements.
Making a "Deadening." Felling the Forest. "Making a Fall." Pre-
paring for a "Burning." Extraction of Stumps. Estimate of Expenses
in Clearing American Forest Lands. Dexterity of American " Lumber-
ers." The Forest in the Eastern United States now. Singing Birds
and Animal Life in the American Forest. Difficulties in finding Game
experienced by a New-Comer. Fatigue of Walking through Forests.
Alder Swamps and Thickets. Burnt Areas. "A Windfall." The
Track of a Hurricane. Game Paths. Forest Lakes. The "Fly Season."
Beelzebub or "The God of Flies." General Limits of the "Fly Time."
The Primeval Forests on the Pacific Coast of North America. Foliage
and Growths of Vegetation in the Tropical and Temperate Zones com-
pared. Their Timbers Contrasted from a Commercial Point of View.
British Naval Experiences of Timbers. Natural Arcades in the Forests
of N.W. America. Pine Needles. Undergrowths. Forest Ferns. Night
in a Forest Camp. Firelight Reflected on Silver Firs. The Forest Floor
a Nursery and a Tomb. Fallen Trees. Timber turning to Mould. The
Process of Change in Living Tissues. Infinite Variety of Life in a Great
Forest. Insects. Parasitic Growths. Lichens. Fungi. Mosses. The For-
est Soil. The Great Net-work of Roots. Ants. Insect Pests. Mos-
quitoes and Malaria. Fever and Ague in England in Ancient Times.
Insect Life in the Tree-Tops. Bees and Bee-Trees. Native Prophecies
in America and New Zealand respecting the White Man and his Im-
portations. Tree Life. American Forests Eastwards of the Mississippi.

107

108 THE FOREST REGION OF THE TEMPERATE ZONE.

Early Trails and Settlements in the Forests. Isolation of some of these
Backwood Clearings. Beauty of Vistas upon Forest Streams. The Sioto
150 Years ago. Buffalo in the Forest Meadows. Birch Bark Canoes.
The " Canoe Birch." Value of Birch Bark. Carrying Capacity of
Birch Bark Canoes. Their Seaworthy Properties. Shooting Rapids in
Canoes. The Great Pine Trees of N.~W. America. The Pinus Strobus.
Forest Lumbermen. Mr. Lambert on Great Pine Trees. The Douglas
Fir. The Great Trees on Burrard Inlet. Historical Age of a Great
Pine. Great Flagstaff's. Pendant Tree Mosses. Great Fern Brakes.
The New Westminster Trail in the Early Days of British Columbia.
The Frazer River. A Great City Rising in the Wilderness. Great
Cedars. Queen Charlotte Islands Canoes. Sea-going Canoes of the
Hydahs and other Tribes. Raids by Fleets of Indian Canoes. Cypresses.
Great Silver Firs. Picea Magnifica. Picea Nobilis. Pitch Pines.
Sequoias. The Big Tree Groves of California. Destructive Effects of
Forest Fires. Vitality of Ancient Trees. Great Trees of the Southern
Hemisphere. Eucalypti. A Mammoth Eucalyptus. Foliage of Australian
Gum Trees. Australian Hot Winds and Droughts. The Blue Gum as
an Anti-malarial Tree. "Disinfectants" and "Deodorants." Water-
Absorbing Trees. Scented Eucalyptus Leaves. The Kauri Pine of
New Zealand. Kauri Gum. The Succession of Forest Growths. Na-
ture's Great Rotation of Forest Crops. Vast Age of Forest Growths.
Pine Seeds. Dormant Germination. W^hy New Varieties of Trees
supplant the Old. The Chemistry of Nature. De Candolle on the
Excreting Power of Roots. The Question of the Exhaustion of Soils.
Change the Universal Law of Nature. The .Darwinian Theory of
" The Survival of the Fittest." How Nature does her own Pruning.
The Work of Creation as a Self-Regulating and Self-Perpetuating Power.
Natural Tints and Colours in a Great Forest. Beauties of Tints in the
American "Fall." The Sleep of Plants. The Winter Rest of Plants.
Man as an Inhabitant of the Forest. Red Indian Forest Tribes.
The Indian of Cooper's Novels. "The Last of the Mohicans." The
Story of "Cora." Daniel Boone of Kentucky. His Pursuit and Rescue
of Girls carried off by the Indians. Cora detected " Marking the
Trail." Tracking and Trailing in the Forest. Human Footsteps.
Reading the Signs of the Wilderness. Frontier Scouts. Forest War-
farei The British and the United States "Indian Policy" contrasted.
An American Bishop on " King George's Men." Respect for the
Memory of King George III. Indian Trails and Footmarks. Ancient
Forest Paths. Indian Ambushes. Border Raids. Arrow Wounds.
Hunting Arrows and War Arrows. Backwoodsmen in the early Colonial
Days. Indian Attachment to their Forest Homes. Adoption of White
Strangers by the Native Tribes. General Bouquet and the Ohio Indians
in 1764. Demand for the Surrender of all Captives. White Captives
refusing to Leave the Indians. Pathetic Scenes and Romantic Inci-
dents. The Whites Carry off the Captives by Force. Ancient Fron-
tier Posts. Detroit. The Conspiracy of Pontiac. The Garrison of
Detroit saved by an Ojibwa Girl. The Night before the Rising. In-
dian Councils. Pontiac and his Indians Received by the British Com-

THE FOREST REGION OF THE TEMPERATE ZONE. 1 09

mander. The Garrison Awaiting the Indian Signal of Attack. Pontiac's
Speech. The Signal. The Plot Fails. Military Questions involved in
the Defence of a Forest Frontier. Wild Fowl and Fish in the Great
Lakes. The Liquid Highways of the Forest. Canoe Paths. Frontier
Towns and the Indian Trade. Two Celebrated Frontier Posts — Forts
Duquesne and Oswego. British Operations against Fort Duquesne.
Braddock's Defeat. The Place Captured at last. Oswego and the
French Operations against it. Political Importance of the British Northern
Line of Frontier Posts in the French War in America. The British.
Indians. "The Six Nations." How their Loyalty to Great Britain was
maintained. The Military Importance of Internal Water Communications
in a Great Forest Country.

rpHE Great Forest Region of the Temperate Zone
-L constitutes the fifth in order, counting from the
equator, of the terrestrial zones into which we have
ventured to divide the earth.

This region is however practically extinguished in
the Southern Hemisphere by the vast preponderance
of ocean existing there; moreover a glance at the
map shows us that the great continents are, almost
without exception, drawn out to a point at their
southern extremities. Why this should be so is perhaps
beyond our province to enquire; and yet there must
be a reason for it, for the work of creation has not
proceeded haphazard: of that, at all events, we may
at least feel sure. Probably the forces which at a
remote period of geological time, upheaved the land
from beneath the billows of the ancient sea, operated
with greater intensity in the northern, than in the
southern half of the globe, and so it comes to pass
that the proportion of land is there much greater. But
this must probably always remain a matter of con-
jecture. It is sufficient at present for us to note the
fact, that this is so.

The southern limits of this great zone we venture
to locate at about the 5oth parallel of North Latitude,

110 INFLUENCE OF THE OCEAN ON FORESTS.

where the Region of the Great Plains is supposed to
terminate ; and it extends northwards as far as the
arctic circle, which is drawn by geographers at
Latitude 66°32' North. This zone thus occupies a belt
as near as possible 1000 geographical miles in width.
At some points, as we ourselves have seen, the region
of trees surpasses these limits, but if so they are of
dwarfed growth, and the heavy forest has almost com-
pletely ended: a region of stunted bush, growing in
patches, nevertheless in many places extends some
distance into our next and last division, namely the
Arctic Zone, before tree life finally ceases. In the
southern hemisphere, the mighty expanse of the great
southern ocean occupies, as we have said, nearly the
whole of the corresponding area in that part of the
world. The reports of navigators show that it is a
region of almost constant storm, where the giant rollers
driven by the westerly gales continually chase each
other with little intermission round the world in that
region, throughout the year.*

In the previous section we have drawn attention to
the influence of the ocean breezes in promoting the
growth of trees, and have pointed out that in consequence
the whole of the eastern seaboard of the United
States was formerly a region covered with dense forests
— which usurps the position which would otherwise be
occupied by open plains; but that as the influence of
these water-bearing winds ceases, so the forest also
ceases, and the treeless plains take its place. It would
not now be easy to define the exact boundary line

* These gales are known by mariners as " The Brave Winds " —
which blow almost unceasingly in the Southern Hemisphere, from about
Lat. 40 S., in a stiff westerly gale.

FORESTS OF THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF AMERICA. 1 1 1

in North America where the forest ceased and the
plains began, (the trees having* been cut away to so
great an extent,) but it is certain that the limits
of the forest bear away sharply to the eastward, as
we go northwards — that is to say, the area of the
forest in the southern states is much greater, and runs
much further to the westward than it does further
north. To the southward it often passes considerably
to the westward of the Mississippi River, whereas in
Illinois the treeless plains come a long distance to
the east of that river, whose course, roughly speaking,
is pretty well north and south.

It is evident that the influence of the wind, blowing
across wide areas of water, is the principal cause of
tree-growth; because when we pass still further to the
north, the winds passing across the region of the great
lakes again bring the forest growth into being, in the
States of Wisconsin and Minnesota: a region full of
beautiful lakes, scattered through the wooded country,
as a glance at the map will show. The same cause
would also seem to account for the existence of large areas
of forest in Canada, where the great lakes lay almost
completely embosomed in the depths of the primeval
forest, as all early accounts left by the French Jesuits
and other missionaries conclusively show.

So also ancient records inform us that most of
Western Europe was in ancient times a forest country,
and in Scandinavia and Russia a great deal of country
is so still.

Great Britain, for instance, was, as we know, once itself
a forest country, and was probably covered from sea to
sea with a luxuriant growth of trees. It is sufficient to
refer to any of the histories of England, relating to the

I 1 2 THE ROYAL ENGINEERS AS FOREST SAPPERS.

Saxon times, to find ample authority for this ; historians
being pretty well unanimous in admitting it.

Curiously enough our oldest military corps, which still
form part of the British army, the scientific corps of
Royal Engineers, was first organized as "sappers,"
furnished with tools and appliances for cutting roads
and trails through these great natural forests. The first
military engineers are believed to have come over
with William the Conqueror in 1066, and Waldivus,
who was chief engineer to the Conqueror, may be
regarded as the first commanding officer. The Royal
Engineers can thus show a longer continuous history
than any other branch of the British army; and we
are told that 120 years afterwards — "When Edward I.
conducted the war in Wales in 1287, there were 2000
cutters and 'sappers' (Fossatores) employed with the
army, and these men were of great service both in
making roads, cutting paths through the forests, and
assisting in the sieges of the Welsh strongholds." *

The plentiful rains and water-bearing winds which
prevail from the south west, would here (in Western
Europe) seem to be the agents which promoted the
tree-growth upon the wild lands in former times, except
where the sterile and mountainous nature of the country
forbids. There heathy moorlands took the places of
trees.

Then the same feature which we have remarked upon
in North America recurs in Eastern Europe — the open
plains or steppes appear in Southern Russia, and continue
almost without a break right across Asia to the Great

* The Army Book for the British Empire, by Lieutenant-Genera 1
W. H. Goodenough, R..A. C.B. ; Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Dalton, R.A.,
and others, official publication, printed for H.M's Stationery Office,
London 1893 — Part ii, p. 236 (Article "The Royal Engineers").

TIMBER TREES WITHIN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. 113

Wall of China : the forest region being pushed further
north into Siberia, and there covering the face of the
country as far as the Arctic Circle.

In the article on The Polar Regions in the Encyclo-
pedia Britannica, which may be taken as an authoritative
compilation from all the best available sources of in-
formation, it is stated that — "In the Polar regions the
line of forest seldom reaches to the Arctic Circle ; low
birches, willows, and shrubs, bearing berries, occur in
South Greenland; but further north a creeping willow
alone forms wood. " * This we conceive applies merely,
as we have already stated, to the heavy forest. As
the severity of the climate increases, its effects are seen
in the stunted growth of the trees, but still very fair
timber poles may be here and there found growing, as far
north as the Arctic Circle, and therefore we venture
to think that though larger and more valuable sorts
of timber are rarely found so far to the northwards,
still that the forest, in the shape of a low-growing
bush forest, does extend in most places up to 66° 32'
N., where the Arctic Circle is drawn upon our maps;
and we hope to be able to give some curious and
interesting details of tree-life as observed even beyond
these limits, in our next, or arctic section.

Those who are acquainted with Swedish Lapland
for instance, will not fail to have noticed that tree-life
ascends beyond the Arctic Circle there. Ascending
the splendid river Lulea, for example, the map and
guide books show this circle cuts at Mattis Udden,
a post station on the road, slightly to the south of
Jock-mock, a place dear to lovers of the gentle art,
on account of the admirable fishing to be sometimes

* Encyclop. Brit, Qth Edition, Vol. xix, p. 328.
VOL. II. 8

114 THE FORESTS OF LAPLAND.

had there on the rapids below the falls: now timber
follows this river, and skirts the lakes almost all the
way up to Quick-jock, considerably further to the north-
ward, and even beyond that point dwarf pine forests
exist. A large trade in very fine timber is done on
the Lulea and other rivers entering the northern por-
tion of the Gulf of Bothnia: whose shores are covered
almost everywhere with dark pine forests — so much
so indeed that travellers are often heard to complain
of the monotony of its scenery on this account. On
the Russian side of the gulf the same thing occurs.

On the Norwegian coast, too, numerous travellers
will be aware that timber is found on the fiords and
rivers, beyond the arctic circle ; and those who have
visited the coasts of Alaska (formerly Russian America)
will be aware that the same statement will apply there also.

Though the intense severity of an arctic winter is
as we see adverse to the growth of trees, doubtless
because of the shortness of the annual period of growth
and the prolonged sleep of plant life during the cold
period : it is not a little remarkable to find that a forest
covering to the earth is a great factor in retarding
the spring growth, and in increasing the rigour of the
climate generally. This has been put almost beyond
a doubt by the evidence of the early Canadian records,
which show that there has been a material improve-
ment in the climate there since the opening up of the
country by settlement, and the consequent clearing
of the forest; and if we think of it for a moment, it
is evident that the canopy of branches overhead must
seriously interfere with the action of the solar rays, in
melting snow, and loosening the iron fetters with which
the frost has bound up the earth.

INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF DISAFFORESTING LANDS. 115

Agriculturalists also tell us of the marked effect
exercised by drainage, which enables the heat of the
sun to penetrate more deeply into the soil. Works
upon the science of agriculture are unanimous in pointing
out that by draining away the surface waters which
saturate the soil, a vast improvement is effected, on
account of the known fact that water is an exceedingly
bad conductor of heat.

It is probable that the influence of human agency
in the modification of climate is nowhere more clearly
or strikingly exhibited than in the act of disafforesting
the earth's surface. The length of the northern winter
is curtailed, and its rigour diminished. On the other
hand, the intensity of the tropical heat is increased
by the removal of shade — the droughts are prolonged,
the rainfall lessened, and the process of erosion which
we have spoken of in connection with the formation
of canons and other denudations of the soil, by tor-
rential rains, is enormously and destructively in-
creased.

It would be too long to enter into this question at
greater length; the records of the island of St. Helena
however, conclusively show the injurious effects of the
removal of the forest there. When this island was
first discovered by the Portuguese, in 1502, it was
covered with a dense growth of luxuriant forest, and
possessed a soil of remarkable fertility, which now,
since the removal of the trees, presents an aspect of
sterility so great —

" that it is difficult to believe that it was once green and
fertile. When the vegetation was destroyed, the heavy tropical
rains washed away the soil, and left a vast expanse of bare
rock and sterile clay. This irreparable destruction" (we are

Il6 ISLAND LIFE— SEEDS CARRIED BY BIRDS.

told) " was in the first place effected by goats, aided by the
reckless waste of man." *

The question as to how vegetation and animal life
was first evolved upon these specks of land, situated
in the midst of the melancholy ocean, is a curious one,
which has much exercised the minds of thoughtful
naturalists. It is evident that the problem as regards
animal life is surrounded by many and great difficulties,
which do not apply in nearly the same degree to the
question of vegetation.

Nor can any of the theories be accepted as very
satisfactory, with reference to the former, in such a
place as St. Helena, with its beetling cliff, and deep
water extending almost to their very base.

That small seeds may be carried by the winds and
by the agency of birds to very great distances is a
well-known fact. Some of the larger seeds also have
been known to float or to be carried by currents,
adhering to branches, for long distances across the sea,
without losing their vitality. Then again there is
hardly any apparent limit to the distance to which
seeds may be carried, adherent to the feet and feathers
of birds. Mr. Darwin, whose remarks on this subject
are quoted by Mr. Wallace, states that he has found
mud adhering to the legs and feet of many birds, and
in some cases has reared plants from the seeds thus
adhering to their legs, after they had been shot and
brought in, having flown perhaps long distances ; and
Mr. Wallace states that — " Mr. Darwin has shown by
experiment that almost all earth contains seeds. With
6-J ounces of mud from the edge of a little pond,
carefully treated under glass, he produced 537 distinct

* Island Life, by Alfred R. Wallace, 1880, p. 51.

SPRING MIGRATIONS OF CANADA GEESE. 117

plants. This is equal to a -seed for every six grains
of mud." *

These curious facts will in a measure explain how
plant life at least is started upon a desert island which
has risen from beneath the waves; moreover in the
crops and droppings of birds we have another source from
which abundant supplies of seed may be transplanted
across wide stretches of ocean, and deposited upon islands,
in what is often the best condition for rapid germination.

For instance, during the great spring migrations of
the Canada geese (Brenta Canadensis) crossing New
Brunswick about the middle of March, on their way
to their nesting grounds in the polar regions, it ap-
pears not to be an uncommon circumstance to find
" grains of rice and maize in their crops, showing that
they must have flown many hundreds of miles in a
single night, " after feeding upon these seeds in places
where they are produced, f Now rice is probably
carried from as far south as the Carolinas, where it
is in many places a staple grain ; this therefore presents
a wonderful instance of the great distances seeds may
be carried by birds; and from the circumstance of its
being still found in the crop, there can be little doubt that
its vitality would be uninjured, especially as both rice and
maize are hard seeds. At the period of the year to which
we refer the ice is still generally thick upon the greater
part of the New Brunswick waters, and these geese,
Mr. Rowan, an intelligent an careful observer, informs
us, are generally shot at that time, from screens, or
"hides," erected upon the ice." §

* Island Life, by Alfred R. Wallace, 1880, p. 250.
f The Emigrant and Sportsman in Canada, Experiences of an Old
Settler, by John J. Rowan, 1876, p. 117.
§ Ibid., p. 117.

Il8 POLAR BEARS ON AN ICEBERG AT SEA.

It is also conceivable that even large animals may
be transported for long" distance by means of ice, and
other floating objects. Thus during the summer of 1892
two large polar bears were seen upon an iceberg,
which had drifted so far south as to be carried across
the track of steamers proceeding from Europe to the
United States. They were sighted by the steamship
Ems, upon May .21, on her passage from Bremen to
New York, and were at first imagined to be human
beings ; the steamer's course was in consequence changed,
so as to bear closer in towards the berg ; when it was
ascertained that they were polar bears, no further
attempt was therefore made to rescue the adventurous
voyagers, and the steamer proceeded on her way.*
It has also been supposed that islands have been cut
off from the mainland by subsidence, and other great
convulsions of Nature, and that some of the creatures
of the ancient world have been thus preserved until
the present time: these creatures continuing to live
and breed upon the island, and so have perpetuated
their species until now. All that need be said upon
this head is, that it may be so ; but even in that case,
it only removes the mystery as to the original evolution
of animals by a single step ; for it still fails to explain
how they came to inhabit the mainland before the
island became detached from it. Certain however it
is that very wonderful and strange animal forms have
been known to exist on islands. A good instance of
this is the wonderful extinct Irish fossil moose or elk
(Cervus Hibernicus), specimens of whose horns have
been found, measuring at least ten feet across from
top to top in a straight line.

* Scientific American Newspaper of June 4, 1892.

THE FOSSIL IRISH ELK. 1 19

Mr. Glennon, the well-known naturalist of Dublin,
had a pair of horns 9 feet 6 inches across, by 1 6 feet
6 inches measured along the curve. The height of the
skeleton from the hoof to the top of the dorsal ver-
tebrae was 7 feet 6 ins., and when standing with the
head up, it would require 18 feet head room. * Again
the late Lord Enniskillen had a head and horns in his
museum at Florence Court, which we think must have
been even larger than this. The moose, as we know
is an inhabitant of dense forest, and is to a great extent a
tree-feeder ; the remains of enormous trees found in the
bogs also show beyond a doubt, that in remote times
Ireland was a forest country, covered with magnificent
timber, beneath whose shade this great elk found a
congenial home.

The great natural forest which once covered Western
Europe has however of course long since been swept
away; nevertheless, in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and
Russia, remains of it still exist which give a very good
idea of what it used to be in bygone times. Most of the
finest specimens of timber, however, have been cut for
commercial and other purposes ; still even so, the forest
still existing in the interior of any of these countries
is well worth seeing.

The scenery throughout the Norwegian forests in
the first place is often magnificent, and vistas of distant
hills and valleys, seen from the crest of a ridge, often
present pictures of natural beauty enchanting to every
true lover of nature. As a rule the trees are not very
large, and consist mostly of dark spruce firs, growing
thickly together, almost like a field of corn. The con-
sequence is, of course, that all the lower branches have

* Echoes from the Backwoods, by Levinge.

120 NORWEGIAN FOREST SCENERY.

died back, and a feathery head alone surmounts a lofty
pole — mostly grown straight and even as a bulrush.

These poles are cut in millions, and shipped to Eng-
land and other places, as scaffolding and telegraph poles ;
and by inspecting the scaffolding of any building in
process of erection in London, the dwellers of that great
wilderness of houses can form a very fair idea of what
a Norwegian forest is like, where these tall, symme-
trical little trees may be frequently found growing over
a large area of country so closely together that it is
not always easy to pass between. The hoary hand of
antiquity has however everywhere left its mark through-
out these forests, in dead and decaying timber, which
together with many of the living specimens, is festooned
with dark grey pendant mosses, swaying in the wind.
At every few steps some picturesque object is gene-
rally found to adorn the scene, such as weather-beaten,
lichen-covered rocks, masses of fern, or bilberry, or
other dwarf undergrowth, and it is rare to travel far
without meeting some crystal brook, whose ice-cold
waters descend from the frozen fjeld above.

As usual in every forest country at the present day,
bands of wood-cutters work destruction throughout
these ancient forests; through which the trails by
which they have dragged the fallen timber down to
the neighbouring river are everywhere to be found,
upon whose waters it is thence floated down to the
sea, and exported, or sawn up for local consumption.

The destruction of the forest in this way is everywhere
a grievous spectacle to the lover of nature. In Europe,
however, there is generally some local authority, and
often stringent laws, to control and prevent wanton
waste or wholesale destruction ; judicious thinnings may,

FOREST FIRES. 121

as we know, be carried out among growing timber,
not only without injury, but with very great benefit
to the remaining trees.

But it is in America, where no control was exercised,
that the most wholesale devastation was to be witnessed ;
and to such lengths has it been carried, that even the
vast and apparently inexhaustible expanse of virgin
forests have already come within a measurable distance
of extinction, at all events upon its eastern watershed.

The process of clearing away the forest is generally
effected by means of fire; the trees being felled, and
left for a time to dry, until a favourable moment for
applying the torch arrives, when if the burning is
skilfully planned, everything except the stumps was
generally consumed. Unfortunately however, fire, which
has always proved an admirable servant, like many a
man, often shows itself but an indifferent master; and
once the devouring element was set a-going, it was
not always possible to place a limit upon its ravages;
so that not infrequently, after a spell of dry weather,
the fire passed beyond the boundaries of the intended
clearing, and set the whole forest itself in a blaze;
where the fire continued to rage and burn for weeks
and even for months together, till it sometimes laid
waste hundreds and possibly thousands of square miles
of magnificent primeval forest. We shall have more
to say upon the subject of these great forest fires and
clearances hereafter ; enough has however been said to
indicate the fearful extent of devastation that has been
wrought by the ruthless spirit of selfish recklessness,
which knew no single restraint where the personal
interest of the hour seemed to stand in the way of
the individual. It was the same with the game ;

122 DESTRUCTION OF GAME IN AMERICA.

everything with hair or feather was shot and slaughtered
wholesale, at all seasons; and North America, which
within living memory was one of the finest all-round
sporting countries in the world, has in consequence
now become probably the poorest of any of the great
continents in this respect.

These things have long been viewed with mingled
feelings of shame and sorrow by every true American
sportsman. Poor old " Nessmuk " for instance, * — the
well-known American wood-poet and writer on matters
of forest shooting and wood-craft (who has but recently
passed away), as he every year beheld fresh scenes
of devastation and ruin, wrought upon the sylvan
beauties of some beloved haunt of his youthful days,
where he was wont to hunt the wild deer, or angle
for the speckled trout, while encamped in some secluded
nook upon the borders of the woodland streams— was
full of indignation at this wicked and senseless waste
of the treasures which should have been the heritage
of posterity; and before he died, gave vent to the
bitterness of his spirit in his book upon Woodcraft,
in which with ironical scorn he rebukes the covetous
folly of the age, which was ready to sacrifice everything
to the lust for gain.

"Of course this is progress" (he says) " but whether back-
ward or forward had better be decided sixty years hence!
It is the same old story of grab and greed. Let us go out"
(he continues) " on ' the make ' to-day, and ' whack up ' to-
morrow; cheating each other as villainously as we may: and

posterity be d d; 'What's all the w-u-u-rld to a man

when his wife's a widdy.'"f \

* Mr. George W. Sears (the word " Nessmuk " signifies wood-duck
in the Indian language of the Narraganset tribe).
•j- Woodcraft, by Nessmuck, p. 90.

AMERICAN BACKWOODS CLEARINGS. 123

The harm however, it is to be feared, is now irre-
mediable, though some efforts are at last being made
to preserve the wreck of what is left — by appropriating
some of the most remarkable spots as national parks,
or grounds for public recreation ; and, all too late, some
laws for the protection of game have also been passed ;
but the remains of Nature's former beauty and mag-
nificence are now only to be met with in isolated
spots, few and far between.

Nothing more painfully impresses the traveller who
loves Nature, than the aspect of one of these modern
American settlements, notwithstanding its perhaps
grand name; a collection of a few log houses and
drinking saloons, dubbed a " city, " having very likely
appropriated to itself some illustrious title, borrowed
from the historical annals of the Old World. The
European traveller can at times hardly repress a smile
at this absurd and obvious incongruity ; the utter want
of respect for history and antiquity, however, proves
none the less offensive to his sense of decorum.

This however by no means detracts from the hearti-
ness or the hospitable reception he meets with at the
hands of the worthy citizens, who generally welcome
the new-comer with the hope " that he will conclude
to settle there." We remember reading of one of
these cases, where the stranger, who showed some
signs of disappointment and doubt as to whether the
place would suit him, was promptly reassured by a
local celebrity, something to the following effect : " Oh !
you'll not find - - such a bad place after all. There's

many worse places than in the West ; for you can

always get a drink in - — ; but there's places out West
where you can't get a drink." Whether in view of

124 MAKING A "DEADENING."

the last terrible eventuality, the stranger " concluded
to settle " or not, deponent sayeth not. It is not easy
however to conceive a scene of more utter desolation
than some of these spots recently set down in the
midst of the primeval forest, at first necessarily display.
To use a cant phrase of the acute Yankee trader —
" The forest is rapidly disappearing before the industry
of man " — and on every side a wilderness of burnt
stumps accordingly appears, studding the ground
throughout the clearing, which is enclosed by the
black walls of the pine forest rising all round it to a
vast height.

On this head we feel bound to add a few words of
explanation, for a clearance of the forest is unfortunately
the first step which settlement renders imperative:
experience having again and again proved that it is
exceedingly dangerous to leave old trees standing
anywhere in the immediate neighbourhood of settlers'
houses; because once a breach has been made in the
forest, any such trees left standing, for ornament or
shelter, are almost sure to come down in one of the
violent storms which are of such frequent oc-
curence in the interior of great continents — and
numerous fatal accidents have occurred in this way.

It may perhaps be interesting to Europeans, or to
the dwellers in cities, to give a short account of the
process of clearing forest lands.

There are two ways by which this is usually effected
— the first and quickest by what is called a "dead-
ening," that is to say (the underwood and small
trees having been first removed) the large timber is
all destroyed by having a ring cut in the bark round
the trunks, after which the trees, of course, speedily

CLEARING AWAY THE FOREST, 125

wither and die. The sunlight then for the first time
is able to penetrate to the soil, and crops are sown
among the dead stems of the standing trees, which
gradually rot, and in course of time fall to the ground.
This, as the reader will see, is an inexpensive and speedy,
though rough and primitive process; handed down
there is little doubt, from the old Indian times, when
the forest tribes occasionally made small clearings of
this kind, wherein they sowed their scanty crop of beans
or maize. The white settler was not slow to follow their
example; but the plan is open to many objections,
notably to the danger incurred by men and cattle
from the fall of rotten branches, whenever there are
gusts of wind.

The other and more effective process is an actual clear-
ance of the timber by means of axe and fire. A spot is chosen
for the dwelling house and the settler proceeds to fell some
of the most suitable trees, to cut into lengths for the
construction of the first log cabin. The brushwood is
then removed throughout the extent of the proposed
clearing, and is piled into heaps to dry for burning.
The larger trees are next attacked, and the woodsman
cuts each tree partially through, a few feet above the
ground; the cuts being in each case so arranged that
the trees may all fall in the same direction; when a
sufficient number of trees are thus cut, in a row, one
behind the other, a fall is made, a big tree at the
furthest end being selected, which is cut through and
thrown upon its neighbour : when if the fall has been
arranged with judgment, the whole row go down, one
after the other from end to end, like a house of cards.
The crash is of course tremendous, and as the traveller
passes in the distance along some of the forest trails,

I2b UPROOTING TREE STUMPS.

his ear is not infrequently startled by the ominous sound
of one of these falls, whose appalling crash is heard
afar, echoing in one vast volume of swelling tumult,
amid the deathlike silence which prevails everywhere
throughout the depths of these great woods. These
" sticks, " as they are then called, are next cut into
lengths, and those that are not wanted for converting
into scantlings are rolled together into a heap, so that
at the appointed time when everything is dry enough
fire may at one fell swoop complete the work of de-
struction. The stumps remain ; the labour of stubbing
up these would of course be enormous ; they are there-
fore generally left for a period of years, varying from
eight or ten to perhaps twenty or even thirty years,
until the natural process of decay renders their removal
easy. We have already mentioned that the trunks
are generally so cut as to leave a convenient portion
of the stems upstanding, and at the proper time ad-
vantage is taken of this, to encircle them with a chain
and hook, to which a team of strong oxen are attached,
when at one motion the last vestige of the former
giants of the forest is uprooted from the ground. The
number of years that must elapse before this can be
accomplished will of course, as we have said, depend
very much upon the nature and the size of the trees.
The total expenses of clearing forest lands have been
variously estimated, concerning which we append a
few details extracted from a recent work. It must,
however, be obvious that these matters must depend
more or less upon local circumstances; but if we turn
to a new country of heavy forest lands, such as British Co-
lumbia, the following information, gathered from settlers
of experience, may be at once both interesting and useful:

COST OF CLEARING FOREST LANDS. 127

"To enclose 50 acres of land (with rail fence) takes $120
or £24. Clearing- land from willows and alders costs $10
or £2 per acre, and these two trees always indicate good
(though damp) land." But— "it takes quite $200 or ^40
per acre to clear pine land, though the value of the timber
would make some return for this outlay." *

This last item is however altogether dependant on
circumstances, as unless near rivers, or other settle-
ments, the value of timber is so trifling" as to be almost
inappreciable to early settlers, beyond its utility for
construction purposes and fuel.

The wonderful dexterity with which some of the
American woodsmen wield the axe must be seen to
be believed. There was an immense amount of wood-
cutting to be done, for instance, to enable the surveyors
to fix the exact boundary between British Columbia
and the United States, which runs for an immense dis-
tance through almost impenetrable forests of the heaviest
timber; and Mr. Lord, one of the officers employed
on the British Commission, who had extensive oppor-
tunities of forming an accurate opinion upon this sub-
ject, tells us that "trees measuring eight and ten feet
in diameter, counted by hundreds, were cut down by
their axe-men, two men only at a tree, with a rapidity
utterly astonishing — trees which no ordinary woodsman
would fell in a day, were stretched upon the ground
in less than an hour." f The axes used to be in all
cases of the American wedge-shaped pattern, weighing
about 8 Ibs. and mounted with springy and somewhat
curved hickory handles. Thus equipped Mr. Lord says,

* Life and Labour in the Far West, by W. Henry Barneby, 1884,
p. 129.

| At Home in the Wilderness, by John Keast Lord, 3rd edition,
1876, p. 122.

128 AMERICAN AXE-MEN.

the skilful axe-man, who knows how to use his tools,
can do nearly anything and everything, " and armed
with his axe, a three inch auger, a couple of gimlets,
and a knife, can build a log cabin, split shingles to
roof it, make a fire place, door, latch, hinges and
window " * without the use of a bit of ironwork ; and
of course, can also quickly construct carts, rafts, bridges,
canoes, and many other things needed for progress
through a wild country. Want of time and space how-
ever obliges us to cut short our observations upon these
and similar details respecting life in the backwoods;
we shall therefore now proceed to give a sketch of the
general appearance of the great forests of the Temper-
ate Zone, as we have seen them — which we trust may
prove of interest to Europeans and others who have
never had the privilege of visiting these grand scenes
of natural beauty and vegetative power.

There can be no doubt that this can be better seen
in North America than in any other part of the world ;
but we must begin by saying that, as a rule, most of
the forest now to be seen to the eastward of the Rocky
Mountains does not by any means generally fulfil
popular expectations of the magnificence of the primeval
forest. To see this in all its grandeur one must go to
the Pacific coast, and visit the forests of California,
Oregon, British Columbia, etc.

Of course, in saying so we do not mean to convey
that there are not considerable stretches of exceedingly
fine forest still to be found in Canada, New Brunswick,
Maine, and elsewhere — we merely speak of the general
aspect of the American woods now ordinarily met with

* At Home in the Wilderness, by John Keast Lord, 1876, p. 122.

AMERICAN FORESTS IN THE EASTERN STATES NOW. I 2Q

there, in which we should certainly say that what
mainly impresses the traveller is not, as might be
supposed, the gigantic size and girth of the trees,
because in most localities within reach of the settlements
the lumberer has been at work, and nearly all the best
and most valuable timber has been cut ; leaving behind
an immense and luxuriant growth of comparatively
small trees, growing into, and destroying one another,
much as may be seen any day in a neglected plantation
in Europe; while old trees of great size are only to
be found here and there, at intervals, sometimes standing
singly, and sometimes in clumps; their tops towering
like giants above their more insignificant neighbours,
which are generally found crowding closely in all
round them.

The prevailing impression then, is at first somewhat
disappointing, and the noble vistas, beneath the over-
arching canopies of branches, which one naturally
expects to see, are of comparatively rare occurrence.

What chiefly impresses the mind is the interminable
extent, the silence, gloom, and solitude of these great
woods, where the sounds of life are but seldom heard.

The song of the bird too, which enlivens our English
groves, is silent, for the stillness of the American
woods is but rarely broken by the voices of birds;
upon this point the reports of travellers are practically
unanimous.

The signs of animal life are also comparatively
scarce; and it is quite possible for the sportsman to
travel even for days, without getting a sight of a single
head of game ; the new-comer therefore is apt to conclude
that this is because scarcely any birds or animals exist
there: but this is to adopt a very erroneous view of

VOL. n. 9

130 GAME IN A GREAT FOREST.

the facts; for plenty of living- creatures are there, but
the difficulty is to find them. The tree growth and
underwood is generally so thick that it is as a rule
impracticable for a man on horseback to pass through
the forest, except by the beaten trails, without the
constant use of the axe to clear away obstructions ; and
this being so, of course the sportsman, even when
on foot, is pretty well sure to betray his presence
by a certain amount of noise, whereupon these timid
and watchful creatures, whose ears are constantly on
the alert to catch the faintest sound of approaching
enemies, at once move off with stealthy tread, and
without so much as moving a twig, to safer quarters
elsewhere. No! The way to see game is not to
keep constantly on the tramp, but to adopt their tactics
—to watch, and wait, and listen, in well-chosen situa-
tions, at the hours when the game pass to and fro
to water, etc. But we must refer the reader, for
further information on this head, to our sections on
hunting, shooting, etc. ; where we trust, so far as it
may be possible to convey the information in mere
words, further details of interest and utility are to be
met with.

Walking in the forest, the new-comer will, by the
way, soon discover, is much more fatiguing than walking
along a road; so that an occasional rest will by no
means prove unwelcome ; for what with having to lift
the feet, so as to step over creepers and other small
obstructions, and being constantly obliged to climb
over fallen trees, or to stoop so as to pass under par-
tially fallen ones or else make a long detour to pass
round them : it will be found that eight or ten miles
in the forest, measured in a straight line, are at least equal

FOREST SWAMPS AND WINDFALLS. 131

to double the distance upon a smooth hard road. There
are also certain sections of the forest, which must be
passed through occasionally, which may fairly claim
to be almost impenetrable — these are densely wooded
swamps, with a matted thicket of dwarf alders, willows,
and shrubs, of a water-loving character — and areas
which have been devastated by forest fires a few years
previously, where there are not only the old stumps
and fallen sticks to contend with, but also a thick
growth of young trees and shrubs, which shoot up
with almost magical rapidity in such places.

But the worst of all is a " windfall " or track, where
a hurricane has passed through the forest, cutting at
times a regular lane through the trees. These places
may vary from a few yards to one or more miles
across, in which nearly every tree is uprooted, and
thrown down one on top of another in the wildest
confusion. Sometimes spots of this kind are found
which are absolutely, not merely figuratively speaking,
impassable — that is to say it might take a man an
hour to advance a hundred yards, by a process of
severe gymnastic exercises, climbing over one tree, and
creeping under another, while at intervals he may be
forced to work his way along a slippery trunk twenty
feet or more above the level of the ground, where a
false step might entail serious consequences. But the
chaos that prevails in such localities must be seen to
be fully understood, for there are often trees by the
hundred, piled one on the top of the other, whose
interlaced branches and trunks form an " abatis " or
rampart, through which neither man nor beast can
pass, and you must go over them if you are to pass
at all.

132 WILDFOWL ON FOREST LAKES.

Now all these places — swamps, young forests, and
windfalls — are just the spots which form the fast-
nesses of the forest game; for in these dense thickets
it would be manifestly impossible for a man to approach
without being heard long before he could come near,
and the extensive nature of some of them very often
makes an attempt to drive them, by the aid of men
or dogs, impracticable.

Game animals also almost always take care to have
passes, known '. only to themselves, which exist in several
directions, by which they can noiselessly retreat when
suspicious of danger. In the swamps, however, which
often contain numerous small lakes and pools, hidden
deep in the recesses of the forest, excellent wild fowl
shooting may frequently be had. Many of these spots
are far removed from the habitations of man, and
consequently seldom or never disturbed by the report
of the fowler's gun ; and are besides, frequently of an
exceedingly extensive character, covering it may be
many square miles of ground. The time to see one
of these places at its best, is during the great spring
and autumn migrations of wild fowl, which occur pe-
riodically in almost every part of the world. Extensive
swamps, or areas of country whose surface is dotted
over with numerous sheets of open water, often become
at such times a regular sportman's Eden, where geese
and ducks of many kinds, and indeed almost every
sort of wild fowl, may be seen in countless thousands.
The flight lines of these birds naturally follow the course
of the principal water channels traversing the forest
region, which act as guides to direct their course.
The larger lakes in such localities are very generally
connected with each other by rivers or streams, which

THE PLAGUE OF FLIES. 133

often form chains of communication, so that boats can
penetrate for immense distances through an otherwise
almost impenetrable forest country. Such instances
are numerous throughout the world, and often form
the only means by which the communications of pri-
mitive man have been able to be maintained through-
out great periods of time. As may be supposed there-
fore, there is likely to be no lack of good sport for
the wild-fowl shooter or the fisherman in such places ;
though their enormous extent is often apt to militate
somewhat against the making of heavy bags, except
as we have said at certain seasons, when migrations
are in progress. — At other times game becomes so
scattered over the vast expanse, that it is very hard to find.

There is one thing, however, which we regret to
say, forms a very serious drawback to what would
otherwise probably be the sportsman's sense of perfect
enjoyment — we mean THE FLIES.

The constant torment created by these insect pests,
everywhere throughout the Great Forest Region of
the Temperate Zone, must really be experienced
in one's own proper person, before a man can fully
realize the extent and virulence of this scourge.
There are vast districts of wild country, which as we
shall have occasion to show are rendered practically
uninhabitable simply by the fly — the data which we
have collected upon this subject, are however so
voluminous that we shall be unable to do justice to
it within the limits of the present work. This subject
is one of great interest, and though many authors
have alluded to it in a cursory way, so far as we
can discover none have attempted to write upon it as
a speciality.

134 BEELZEBUB OR THE GOD OF FLIES.

Nevertheless most of us have heard of "Beelzebub,"
the " father of evil," and curiously enough, on coming to
look into the probable origin of this unpleasant gentleman,
we find that he is no other than " The God of Flies "-
("Baal,"— the well-known idol, and " Zebub"— Fly, in
the Chaldean tongue) — as such he was worshipped
at a very early period in some parts of the East ; when
we say " worshipped " we mean, in the sense in which
"the bad god" of many savage races comes to be
invoked, when it is conceived necessary to placate
him in order to remove some grievous scourge from
the land. We merely however refer to this circum-
stance now in order to give some idea of the wide-
spread and serious nature of the evil which flies are
capable of inflicting in various parts of the world,
concerning which many curious historical facts can be
related.

Fortunately for the sportsman, the best of the wild-
fowl shooting of which we have spoken, both in spring
and autumn, comes on either too early or too late for
the fly. The fly season, when insect pests become
really troublesome, may be said to correspond with
the appearance and fall of the leaf, and is at its worst
during the period when grasses, reeds, ferns, etc., are
growing rapidly. At this period of the year the woods
are so dense, that the hunter can see but a very short
distance in any direction. Sport is in consequence bad.

We shall now ask the reader to accompany us in spirit
to the Pacific coast of North America, where we shall
be able to introduce him to the beau ideal of American
forest scenery, and to what, there can be no doubt,
are incomparably the finest primeval forests on earth-

TROPICAL AND TEMPERATE ZONE FORESTS. 135

or at all events in the temperate zone; for the reader
will, we trust, doubtless clearly understand the vast differ-
ence which necessarily exists between the forest in the
temperate, and in the tropical zones — both of which have
their own special points of grandeur and beauty; and
perhaps this is not a bad opportunity for saying a
few words upon the contrast exhibited between these
great regions of arborescent vegetation.

If we go to elegance, delicacy, and beauty of foliage,
there can be no question that the tropical forest
must be held to stand unrivalled. We have no such
leaves in the temperate zone, for instance, as those of
the palm or the banana ; and for grace and beauty the
palm must be adjudged the first place as queen among
the trees of the earth.

Then again we have nothing in the temperate zone
to compare to the giant lianas, and other creepers,
which bind the trees of the tropical forests together,
like strong cables: the honeysuckle and the ivy, though
beautiful in their way, make but a poor show when
compared with these marvellous creepers, many of
which at certain seasons are, as we have shown,
covered with masses of magnificent flowers, whose
aroma scents the whole surrounding atmosphere; our
flowering trees also, in the north, are few and far
between — that is to say, all of them, of course, produce
flowers, but they are mostly inconspicuous ones of
green colour, that the unobservant man will probably
never notice at all: whereas the floral beauties of
some of the great flowering trees of tropical climes,
once seen, can never be forgotten. We might instance
the Bauhinias and Bombacese, * as conspicuous examples

* One of the most common and best-known of these is the Red

136 VEGETATIVE POWERS OF NATURE.

among many others. On the other hand some of the
flowering shrubs of temperate climates are the finest
of all — as for instance the rhododendron and the gorse.

Also, as instances of the wonderful vegetative power
of Nature, the exuberance of tropical growth is out of
all proportion great, when compared with the slower
growths of the temperate zone ; the giant grasses, such
as bamboos, some of them over a hundred feet high,
are striking instances of this. Then as regards the
arborescent vegetation itself, in the temperate zone
our underwood generally consists of but a single growth
of lesser trees or shrubs; whereas in the torrid zone,
as we have not failed to point out in our section on
the equatorial forest region, we often find tier above
tier of different kinds of trees, extending in several
distinct forests, from the giant trees of the highest
growth down to within a short distance of the ground,
which in its turn is often covered with a dense growth
of herbaceous vegetation and foliage plants, to which
in our dim climate, so far removed from the regions
of the sun, we can show nothing to compare. It is
therefore indisputable that in very many ways the
wonders of the vegetable kingdom are exhibited in a
much more striking degree in the torrid, than in the
temperate zones.

And yet when all is said and done, we venture to
think that the great forest region of the temperate
zone can hold its own against any other upon the
face of the earth.

In the first place as regards the size and value of
the timber, tree for tree, from a commercial point of

Cotton Tree (Bombax Malibaricwri] of which we have given some
account in our first volume.

TIMBER IN BRITISH DOCKYARDS. 137

view; after taking considerable pains to consider this
question impartially, from every aspect, we feel bound
to say that in our humble judgment, the trees of the
temperate zone, as timber, are finer, more useful, and
more valuable, generally, than those of the tropics
—but time and space will only admit of reviewing
this question very briefly.

British naval experiences in this matter seem to us
conclusive, as in our dockyards immense pains and
expenses have been taken, to give a fair trial to
every kind of tree, and to obtain the very best timber
that the world can produce. And now taking a
few of the most valuable of the tropical trees: for
instance the teak (Tectona Grandis], we find that this
tree attains a height of i oo feet, with a circumference
of 10 feet, and yields timber in the log up to 50 feet
long and 30 inches square, in extreme cases. *

Then there is mahogany (Swietenia] — the largest
kind, though perhaps not the best, from a cabinet-
maker's point of view, is the Mexican mahogany, which
yields legs up to 30 feet long and 4 feet square, f
Also we may mention "Pyengadu," or Burmese Iron
wood, giving logs of 30 inches square and of great
length §— and the greenheart (Nectandra Rodicei) found
in Guinea, a valuable timber, perfectly straight, and
producing logs up to 50 feet in length by 24 inches
square. **

There we have what are probably the largest and
finest examples of tropical timbers. We do not now

* Timber and Timber Trees, by Thomas Laslett, Timber Inspector
to the Admiralty, 1875, p. 113.
f Ibid., p. 177 — 78.
§ Ibid., p. 129.
** Ibid., p. 151.

138 IMPERFECTIONS OF TROPICAL TIMBERS.

speak of the many and valuable cabinet-maker's woods,
which are mostly of small size, and prized mainly for
the beauty of their colour and grain- — nor yet of dye
woods, nor medicinal products — we simply regard the
tropical trees as timber, and what are they compared
to the timber trees of the temperate zone? We shall
furnish the reader with some technical details upon
this head presently..

But there is another matter which we can by no
means pass over in silence, and that is the general
tendency of tropical woods to crack and shrink, and
to develop what is technically known as " heart-shake "
and "star-shake"— which greatly detracts from the
value of their timber, though it must be confessed that
all timber is more or less liable to blemishes of this
kind, but it is exhibited in greater degree in tropical
than in other woods.

Let us take a single instance, that of teak — perhaps
the most valuable of all timbers for certain purposes.
Mr. Laslett, a high authority on such matters, states
that—

" It is characteristic of Rangoon Teak " (one of the most
valuable kinds) " to be shaky at the centre, there being be-
side the heart-shake, which is common more or less to teak
timber, a close fine star-shake, which is seriously detrimental
to its value." * — "Many of the logs" (he continues) "cannot
on this account be converted into boards or planks, without
incurring a very considerable loss." f

And so we might go on to show how this is the
case with nearly all tropical timbers, in a greater
degree than is met with in those of the temperate

Timber and Timber Trees, by Thos. Laslett, 1875, p. n
Ibid., p. 122.

NORTHERN FOREST PRODUCTS. 139

zone. Why — it is perhaps beyond our province to
enquire here ; but it must be manifest that the generally
vastly more rapid habit of growth of tropical trees,
the absence of the prolonged winter's rest, and the
consequently larger amount of moisture contained in
them, is sufficient to account for a great deal of this
unfortunate peculiarity. Consequently the split, in drying.

Then as regards the commercial value of forest
products, it is hardly necessary to add that the trade
done in pine and other northern timber trees is out
of all proportion greater than that done in tropical
woods. In the building trade for example, the timber
used may be said to be almost exclusively the product
of coniferous trees — the use of tropical woods being
nearly altogether confined to articles of furniture.

Now, if we wish to see the pine forest in its grandest
aspect, we shall, as we have said, find it in all its
magnificence upon the Pacific slopes of North America.
In the tropical forest the mind is confused and
overwhelmed by the vast number and variety of the
surrounding forms, but it is rare there to see whole
districts of country covered with a single variety of
tree, such as predominates in many parts of the
northern forests. There are however of course some
exceptions- to this rule, as for instance the evergreen
Sal forests (Shorea Robusta) of Central India.

In the great forests of North Western America, for
instance, considerable areas may be found where there
is very little mixture in the species of trees, and where
every tree is for the most part faultless in its symmetry,
with hardly k small specimen to be seen amongst them,
each of their trunks rising like an immense natural
column for nearly a hundred feet without a branch ; and

140 IN THE GREAT PINE FOREST.

then the dense canopy of pine boughs interlacing over-
head, so far excludes the light that it keeps the ground
.below in such situations pretty well clear of vegetation ;
so that vistas of Nature's architecture may frequently
be seen, whose solemn simplicity and majesty almost
exactly represents the aisle of some great cathedral.
The whole effect in its spacious grandeur, its air of
antiquity, its eternal tranquillity and silence is that of
some enormous temple, dedicated to the worship of the
Supreme Being. The forest floor in some of these
places consists of an accumulation of pine needles, the
deposit of centuries, which has annually fallen from
the crowns of the monarchs of the woods above ; upon
which the human foot leaves its impress almost as upon
the mould of a garden bed, while at the same time it is
as soft and springy as a well-stuffed sofa, and almost
as slippery as so much ice : this the traveller will very
soon discover, should the ground beneath his feet have
a rapid slope.

Indeed there is nothing more difficult to walk upon
than a steep place carpeted with pine needles — the feet
fly from under a man exactly as if he were upon ice.

When we say that such spots as these are to be
found, the reader, we trust, will not misunderstand us,
and suppose that such is the general aspect of these
forests; for the greater part of them is usually filled
with underwood of some kind, especially when there
is a break in the canopy of foliage overhead ; the ground
is then often covered with a magnificent growth of
ferns, sometimes as high as or higher than a man's head,
very often of a variety resembling our well-known
male fern ; or at other places it is obstructed by fallen
timber, or underwood of different kinds, which interrupts

NIGHTFALL IN THE FOREST. 141

the view and so spoils the wonderfully majestic and
solemn scene we have described above — and yet vistas
of this kind, of marvellous beauty, are frequently to
be witnessed, from the top of a declivity or rocky
eminence, or other point of vantage, where the spectator
can see down a ravine or stretch of forest extending
below, where the eye ranges above the underwood,
yet beneath the great canopy of forest which towers
high above all. The contrast between the tender green
of the ferns and undergrowth, and the dark sprays of
the pines above, is often exceedingly beautiful, and
sometimes a position of this kind, if the wind is favourable,
is not a bad place for observing the movements of
game, and perhaps getting a shot at deer or other
creatures. The neighbourhood of lakes or streams is
however perhaps generally the best for the gunner;
and some of the sheets of water nestling in the bosom
of the forest, with the amphitheatre of dark pines
reflected in their glassy surface, are often scenes of
exquitise beauty and tranquil repose. Not unfrequently
small companies of water birds may be seen floating
on their surface, and on a still evening the plaintive
cry of the loon, or the cooing of wild pigeons is heard ;
while the rises of many fish testify to the numerous
shoals of the finny tribe which their waters enclose.

But soon the lengthening shadows of the evening
warn us that the labour of the day is drawing to a
close, and that we must needs prepare for the night,
wherein the Scripture reminds us that "no man can
work. " * These figurative words of the Divine Spirit
come home with special force to the traveller in the
pathless forest regions, where moving about by night

* St. John, IX. 4.

142 AMERICAN FOREST REST-CAMPS.

is generally entirely impossible : as in the heavy forest
there is generally a sort of subdued light even in the
day-time, and the night is therefore pitch-dark.

Consequently, where the night closes in, there the
wayfarer must remain till daylight returns; the brief
preparations are therefore quickly made — and if needs
be a small space is cleared of obstructions ; a sufficient
supply of dry wood is collected to last the night, and
sprays of deliciously scented pine branch tops (usually
termed " browse") are arranged to form an elastic
couch, upon which the traveller generally finds there
is no difficulty in obtaining the most delightful repose —
so much so, that in America, as we have mentioned
in our opening pages, many men who are over-
worked and harassed by the continual turmoil of
city life, make it a practice every year to take a
few weeks well-earned rest, encamped in the tranquil
recesses of the woods — "Locus quietis et tranquilitatis
plenissimus." * Here, far from the cares and worries
of the great world, in an atmosphere laden with the
balsamic incense of the pine trees, should the weather
be propitious, many men find that they can obtain
that complete rest for the nervous system which is
not to be had anywhere else. Even consumptive
patients have sometimes tried it, with marked benefit
to their condition.

A night camp in the forest, in some sheltered nook
beneath the shade of these grand old trees, is an
experience which rarely fails to leave a deep and
lasting impression upon the mind ; and passages culled
from the works of many travellers show that almost
all of them have felt and recognised its influence.

* Cicero, de Oratore, i, — I.

CAMP FIRES IN THE FOREST BY NIGHT. 143

The intense darkness, the deathlike stillness, and the
absolute isolation from the outer world, all combine
to exert a powerful effect upon the imagination.
There are places in the forests of the great North
West, where it is possible to march straight ahead,
even for weeks, without coming to an end of the
woods. In every direction, there is still forest-
nothing but forest — and after leaving the settlements,
and penetrating some distance into the woods, a man
is lost to the world, unless he knows how to make
his way out again. His friends might as well seek
for a needle in a haystack, and an army might search
for him in vain — the sense of isolation is therefore
complete, more so even than at sea. Nevertheless,
when a man has confidence in himself, and in the
fidelity of his companions and guides, these things do
not break in upon his rest, nor diminish aught from
his keen enjoyment of the sylvan beauties of Nature's
wild domain. And settled comfortably to rest for
the night, beneath her verdant roof, wonderfully
picturesque are the effects sometimes to be witnessed;
when as the camp fire burns up brilliantly, he gazes
aloft, and sees the overhanging canopy of closely
intertwining branches, glistening like some richly
decorated ceiling, cast as in a mass of molten silver,
suspended at an immense height above. This is pro-
duced by the glaucous foliage of many of the silver
firs, whose leaves, on their lower side, are of a beautiful
silvery white, particularly striking when seen illuminated
by the firelight at night. On turning up a spray of
the picea nobilis, picea nordmanniana, and many other
species, by day, the reader will easily see for himself
that this is so.

144THE FOREST FLOOR AS A NURSERY AND A TOMB.

The ruddy glow of light also, throws the tall
columnar trunks of the neighbouring trees, with their
brown and cinnamon coloured barks, and pendant
wreaths of silver-grey moss into bold relief; the shadowy
arcades of the forest, with its amphitheatre of surround-
ing trunks being dimly seen beyond, until the circle
of unfathomable darkness shuts out the view.

The floor of pine needles, upon which the traveller's
couch is generally spread, is also worthy of a moment's
thought — for it is at once a nursery and a tomb.
In nothing, to our mind, is the greatness of Nature
more strikingly apparent, than in this wonderful upris-
ing of exuberant masses of animated life out of the
products of decay and death, which we see to be
everywhere the law of life.

In one of the finest passages in the Koran, * as we
have pointed out in our section on "The Desert Zone,"
the Moslem prophet has laid peculiar stress upon this
curious and impressive fact; and nowhere can it be
witnessed in a more striking degree than in the primeval
woods; for beneath the traveller's feet, undisturbed
throughout the ages, lie the dust of many generations
(compared to which the Catacombs of Egypt are as a
thing of naught), of myriads of the forest giants, from
whose decay the present woods arose. Trees, as we
know, have like ourselves their allotted span of life, it
may be three hundred or four hundred years, or it may be a
thousand years— and what does it matter, in the vast-
ness of an eternal past? But in the end they fall and
rot and are succeeded by others ; for it is evident that
in these great woods forest has succeeded forest, perhaps
through a greater number of centuries than it was

* El Koran (of Mahomet), Sura vi.,. 96.

VEGETABLE MOULD OF THE FOREST FLOOR. 145

till recently the fashion to suppose that the earth's
age was to be counted in years.

The accumulations of uncounted ages have thus grad-
ually carpeted the surface of the earth over thousands
of square miles, with a covering of vegetable mould,
often many feet in thickness; indeed when in the State
of Tennessee, we were assured that in some of the
bottoms near the Mississippi, this had actually been
found to consist of as much as fourteen feet deep of
solid leaf mould and other decayed vegetable matter.

It is curious to observe some of the prostrate trunks
of these great trees, wich may be seen in numbers,
in every stage of decay. Some have recently fallen,
and their bleaching stems still form the finest kind of
seasoned timber. Others are overgrown with a close
covering of lichens, mosses, and ferns, marking the
progress of decay; and though the outward form con-
tinues in many instances to be preserved with little
change, the pressure of a human foot, of a man climber-
ing across, is occasionally enough to cause the giant
limbs of the defunct forest monarch to crush and crumble
into dust. No easy task it is sometimes to make one's
way across some of these great trunks, whose diame-
ter is often higher than a man's head. Then again
we come across others, where some great tree has
long since fallen, which has perhaps mouldered so
completely into decay, that a low, soft, moss-grown
ridge, like a long sepulchral mound, is all that remains
to attest the fact of its former existence. Here the
parent stem has actually returned to earth, and is in
a condition to form the cradle of new forms of life.

This adaptation of decaying substances to form the
support of future rotations of living organisms is surely

VOL. II. 10

146 THE PROCESS OF DECAY IN TIMBER.

one of the most wonderful phenomena of Nature, and
furnishes us with a clue to one of the means by which
life in its various forms is perpetuated upon our planet.
Scientifically speaking this process of decay in timber
may be said to commence from the moment that its
vegetative existence comes to a close, just as it does
in the dead bodies of animals; and in both cases, the
destruction of the tissues is due to a species of slow com-
bustion whereby they are chemically consumed in periods
of time which vary in length. In the case of timber,
though decay may be retarded by protecting it from
the action of the atmosphere, and from damp, still
the ultimate issue, as in the case of animal remains,
is certain; as according to Mr. Grantham, C.E., and
others, the oxygen, which during vegetation is held in
harmless combination, begins the work of destruction
from the time that vegetative life ceases. Carbonic
acid is evolved, and as the deterioration of the woody
fibre proceeds, the timber loses its flexibility and
strength, and finally becomes carbonized. This process,
it has been pointed out by Mr. Kuhlman, is hastened
by the driving of iron nails, etc., into woodwork, which
act as carriers for introducing oxygen into the substance
of the timber. It is probably to this latter fact that
the rapid decay of the hulls of " composite " ships, or
vessels constructed partly of iron and partly of wood,
was frequently due. * In what is known as " dry-rot "
in the timbers of ships and houses, the process of slow
combustion, by which the wood is eventually consumed,
is perhaps better seen than in any other form of decay.
The thickness of the timber, in these cases, does not

* See Stevens on The Stowage of Ships and their Cargoes, 4th edi-
tion, 1867, pp. 612 to 614.

CHEMISTRY AND THE LAW OF CHANGE. 147

increase its durability, in proportion to the size of the
scantlings ; and an unsound portion seems to have the
property of infecting the surrounding timbers with its
own decay. Thus the ravages of dry-rot spread rapidly
in every direction.

The observer, in the course of a few hours' journey
through the forest, may thus witness the process of
conversion, as carried on in the great chemical labora-
tory of Nature, proceeding in every stage of its pro-
gress; and the practical chemist who has made these
matters his study would have no difficulty in demon-
strating that this is effected without one particle of
waste.

Indeed it may be accepted as an axiom of chemical
science, that everything is unceasingly undergoing a
process of change, but that nothing is lost. It is true
that the apparent residuum is often small when compared
with the magnitude of the mass that is acted upon;
but that makes no difference in a scientific point of
view ; it is merely so, because many of the products
are given off in an impalpable form, such for instance
as gases of various kinds, which in their turn are
absorbed and assimilated by living organisms ; and they
thus become under different conditions integral por-
tions of living plants and animals. It would, however,
obviously be out of place to attempt any technical
description of the processes of decomposition and re-
construction in these pages: processes which, as we
know, are continually in operation throughout the whole
realm of created nature — even the living plant and animal
is not exempt from this universal law of life. Physio-
logists for instance have even gone so far as to calculate
the approximate term of years which it takes to change

148 INSECT LIFE IN A GREAT FOREST.

and reconstitute every part of the frame of the living
man. Thus the man we know at fifty, is not the same
man, in his corporeal body, as the man we remember
at twenty or thirty ; though the same soul inhabits
the bodily frame, its earthly tenement has been so
often repaired, renewed, and gradually reconstituted
from time to time, in its various parts, that it is
clothed in what is in truth a different body. And
even as to the mind (the soul that is), we are all of
us conscious of the great changes that are at work
there : the whole characters and opinions of some men
have undergone not one, but perhaps several consecutive
changes, each so marked in its intensity as to make
the individual " quite another man, " as it is sometimes
popularly said of him. Incessant change may therefore
be regarded as a constant law pervading the whole
economy of Nature. There seems to be no exception
to this rule, so that the flight of time itself is not more
steady in its march than that of the changes which
everywhere accompany it. In a great forest however
these facts are brought more clearly into view, than in
any than region — and therefore we have specially called
attention to them here.

A most curious study also is the infinite number of
varieties of the forms of life, both animal and vegetable,
which exist upon the decaying substances of a great
forest. These, of course, belong almost exclusively to
the lower forms' of life, and though they are to be
found everywhere, they seem to be in greater numbers,
and their operations are more distinctly visible in the
forest than elsewhere.

This again would involve us in a really interminable
range of enquiry, did we venture to go further than

VEGETABLE PARASITES. 149

merely to draw attention to the fact of its existence.
The observant man however cannot go far through a
great forest without being struck with the vast swarms
of insect life which it contains; every living tree is a
museum of entomological research — there is scarcely a
leaf, or a portion of bark, that does not contain its
own special form of parasite which feeds upon its
juices or its substance — and does it begin to decay? or
does it fall and die ? Why then, each of those periods
of change breeds its multitudes, which feed upon de-
caying or dead wood. Even the solid heart of the
timber itself becomes honey-combed by various kinds
of borers, which finally reduce it to impalpable touch-
wood, till at last the final stage of disintegration is
reached which we have already noticed a few pages
back.

Then as regards the vegetable forms of parasitic
life — How protean is their abundance, their variety,
and their ubiquity ! Countless varieties of lichens and
mosses cover the limbs and trunks of every living tree,
the surface of every rock or bank of earth. The
smoothest and hardest stone for instance that can be
placed there, does not long remain exempt from some
form of parasitic growth. Shortly some little yellowish
or greenish discoloration becomes apparent on portions
of its surface, marking the impress of the wearing finger
of time ; and showing by its existence that even there
the process of decomposition and disintegration has
already begun, to whose unceasing operation we have
already referred.

Then again every stage of decay is marked by its
own special form of growth — first the lichen, then the
fungus, the moss, the fern, and finally the new genera-

150 THE GREAT NETWORK OF ROOTS.

tion of trees itself, all successively feeding upon, and
destroying, the remains of the fallen; till at length
they are entirely incorporated with the soil from which
they formerly drew their life. Thus does dust return
to dust, from whence it first arose, both in the vegetable
and in the animal creation.

Lastly, as regards the soil itself, the surface as we
know is often covered with a verdant carpet of
herbaceous vegetation ; and beneath it are various forms
of fungoid growths; a curious one, dear to the palate
of the gourmand, for instance, is the truffle, which
inhabits the soil of many ancient woods — especially
under beech or chestnut trees.

Then, of course, still further down, and mostly out
of sight, is the infinite network of roots whereby the
the trees and plants draw their nourishment from the
soil, varying in size from the thickness of a man's body
to the fineness of a human hair. Not less numerous,
or hardly less remarkable than the vegetation is the
infinite variety of insect life which inhabits the surface
and whole thickness of the upper crust of the soil, or
humus. Let anyone consider the vast legions and
countless varieties of insect life which are to be seen
both upon and above the surface of the ground. What
pen could describe them ? Or who could form even an
approximate idea of their numbers?

The multitudes of ants for example — to take only
one kind of insect — which fill some sections of the pine
forests, in places where the winter is often most
rigorous, and where the snow must cover them over
many feet deep for several months in winter — are
marvellous to behold. These industrious little creatures
collect nests of pine needles, of which they construct

FLY TIME IN THE FOREST. 151

large mounds, which are sometimes found every few
yards apart all over the wood ; each of which if stirred
up with a stick, is found to be a living mass of ants,
which emit a strong scent like aromatic vinegar supposed
to proceed from certain combinations of formic acid
produced by these insects. The ground in such local-
ities is in every direction seamed with their runs, along
each of which myriads of these little creatures may
be seen hurrying to and fro, busily intent upon laying
up stores for the coming winter.

Then as regards winged insect life — for we have
only space to allude to these matters in the briefest
possible way — it is equally numerous, and in many
forests constitutes, as we have said, a real plague of
the first magnitude, rendering certain sections of country
quite uninhabitable in "fly time." One must have
seen and experienced its torment, in a really bad fly-
stricken district, to realize the full extent of this terrible
infliction. We allude now to the gnat, mosquito, black,
and sand fly tribe, and other winged pests, which
attack man.

These insects, however, must not be regarded as an
invariable concomitant of the forest region — there are
some sections of the forest which are almost free from
them — and there are places both upon the open tree-
less plains, and even in the arctic zone, where they
are sometimes found to be almost worse than in the
forest itself.

Alluvial flats and swampy lands, we need hardly
say, are as a rule more infested by them than other
places; but on the other hand there are certain sorts
of flies which are worse on high breezy downs of
a dry sandy nature, than in any other locality — so

152 FEVER AND AGUE IN ANCIENT BRITAIN.

that it is never possible to be quite sure beforehand
where the fly will be bad and where it wrill not.
We do not feel justified in attempting to kiy down
any general rule on this matter, for experience has
long since taught us the impossibility of doing so;
we shall therefore merely mention that in the course
of our wanderings in many lands we have generally
remarked, that wherever the waters are muddy and
discoloured, there as a rule flies will be bad. Whereas,
those favoured districts where flies are not troublesome
are generally regions where the waters are of crystal
clearness; where the lands are irrigated by swiftly flow-
ing streams ; and where the soil is of a somewhat dry
and gravelly or rocky nature— it is not necessarily
barren land; we have seen flies very bad on exceed-
ingly barren land ; and we have seen flies cease from
troubling in sections of forest where the magnificent
timber showed that the soil was rich and productive.
The most troublesome of these insect pests, such as
mosquitoes, which generally seem to hover near the
surface of the ground, are no doubt a certain sign of
a more or less malarious influence. Wherever, for
instance, we find mosquitoes bad, in tropical regions,
there we may be certain malaria exists. Whereas,
where they are conspicuous by their absence, we may
regard it as a district which is probably healthy. So
also in forests of the temperate zone, we may, we
believe, even there set down a bad, fly-stricken district
as probably infected by some modified form of malarial
germs, though these may not always be strong enough
to affect the human system with disease of a distinctly
malarious type. As regards this, we know that malaria
does sometimes extend far up into temperate latidudes.

INSECT LIFE ON THE TREE TOPS. 153

History teaches us, for instance, that some centuries
back, when England was more or less a forest country,
and before it had been generally drained and cultiva-
ted, fever and ague was ihen very prevalent. King
James I. died of it, and so did Oliver Cromwell ; * and
the ancient records prove that in certain parts of the
country it was sometime:1, present in a very severe and
fatal form, f And it is so now in many parts of the
North American newly settled lands, though, of course,
its ravages are largely controlled since the discovery of
quinine, so that " the chills" are now not near so much
dreaded as they formerly were. As a rule, hawever,
the forest region in this part of the world, especially
the pine forest, is free from malarial disease, or at least
from diseases which we can say are of undoubted ma-
larial origin; but attacks of diseases of various kinds,
many of which may be suspected to arise from malaria,
are very apt to appear in all recently settled countries,
as soon as the forest is cut down and the soil turned
up. The history of the early settlements in America
and elsewhere is full of experiences which place this
fact beyond controversy.

But besides those tormenting insect pests, some of
whom live on malarial germs, whose bites are so irritat-
ing, and which, as we have pointed out, mostly keep
within a short distance of the ground, there are the winged
multitudes of flying creatures, most of whom are harm-
less to man, which inhabit the higher regions of the tree

* So also Queen Mary ('Bloody Mary'), we can have no doubt after
considering the circumstances of her death, was cut off by an illness
resulting from, or at any rate complicated by, malarial disease.

7 Dictionary of Medicine, by Richard Quain, F.R.S., Vol. ii., p. 915
(Article on "Malaria"). See also Tanner's Practice of Medicine, 5th
edition, p. 173 (Article "Intermittent Fever").

154 BEES— AND BEE TREES.

tops. Upon a still day, during the summer and autumn
season, the traveller through many sections of the forest
will frequently be made conscious that the atmosphere
is literally filled with countless legions of these tiny
creatures ; the constant, deep, sonorous murmur of whose
myriad wings sounds above his head like the swarming
of some gigantic hive of bees. On looking up, however,
where a break in the foliage occurs, there is seldom
anything to be seen ; and yet the sound seems to come
from everywhere in the expanse overhead; and it is
probable that these vast multitudes of flying things
live partly on each other, and partly upon a species
of manna that is secreted by the leaves of many trees
at certain seasons of the year. It sounds, as we have
said, like the swarming of bees— but bees, so far as
we are aware, though very numerous in some parts
of the country, more generally affect the outskirts of
the great forest, near prairie lands or mountainous
barrens covered with heather and other flowering
plants, than the depths of the heavy forests. The
usual place of their swarming is in the cavity of some
hollow tree, where immense masses of honey and combs
are sometimes found. The discovery of these bee-
trees is a regular trade in parts of North America,
which is followed by professional bee-hunters, who
catch a bee, and fixing a small feather or bit of straw
to it, liberate the captive, and watch its progress through
the air, as it passes straight towards the parent hive ;
the bee-hunter follows in the same direction, and
presently tries a similar experiment on another bee,
until at length he succeeds in tracing one to the
opening of some hollow tree, which is then felled—
the concussion of the fall often splitting open the rotten

THE HONEY BEE IN AMERICA. 155

trunk, and disclosing the hidden treasures of sweetly
scented honey enclosed within; the unfortunate bees,
stunned by the sudden catastrophe, are said seldom
to make any serious resistance to the removal of their
stores, if this is done immediately before they have
time to recover from the shock — though to speak
frankly, we should much prefer to take this fact upon
the authority of others than to try the experiment in
our own person. Attacks of bees sometimes result in
very dangerous consequences to the person assailed;
though of course with proper veils, thick gauntlets, and
other precautions, a man ought to be able to efficiently
protect himself.

The honey bee, we may remind the reader, does not
appear to have been indigenous to America, but was
originally brought over from Europe by the white
colonists, at an early period in the history of the
" Plantation. " Like many other living creatures and
plants then introduced, they took kindly to their new
home, and multiplied exceedingly in a wild state, and
now, so far as we can learn, appear to have established
themselves almost all over the regions where climate
and circumstances admit of their doing so; they have
in consequence as we have before remarked come to be
regarded by the red man, whose acute observation nothing
can escape, as " The White Man's Fly ; " and though the
Indians will eat its honey whenever they can get it, the
honey bee is nevertheless regarded by them with a certain
amount of superstitious dread, as " bad medicine, " or a
thing of evil omen. With wonder and alarm they saw the
white man's fly quickly spread itself all over the land,
and occupy it in such numbers as to render all idea
of its ever becoming extinct hopeless, even were it

156 THE NEW ZEALANDER ON THE WHITE MAN'S FLY.

desirable ; and under these circumstances therefore it
was regarded as an omen of the eventual conquest of
the country by the white stranger. No one can deny
that in this instance at all events, the medicine man's
prophecy has turned out correct, for wherever the bee
has gone the white man has followed. And remark-
able it is, that almost the self-same superstition, if we
may call it so, has taken fast hold of the Maori, or
aboriginal native of New Zealand. That this should
occur thousands of miles away in distant lands, among
tribes of totally different race and language; and that
what is practically the same figurative idea should
spontaneously lay hold of the native mind, both in
America and in New Zealand, is a most curious coin-
cidence. Speaking of the probable future of his race,
an old New Zealand native is said to have philosophi-
cally remarked : " The white man's rat has driven away
our rat — The European fly drives away our fly — His
clover kills our grass — and so will the Maoris disap-
pear before the white man himself." * See how these
little facts in natural history are at once seized upon,
and applied to the practical illustration of every-day
life, by these widely-separated native tribes! This
gives .us a good illustration of the peculiar cast of
thought which exists among wild men almost every-
where, and shows that their acute powers of observa-
tion, and attentive study of the great Book of Nature,
might well put to shame the more cultivated intellect
of the white man.

Few of those who study the ways of Nature will be

* Darwin and after Darwin, by Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., p. 286
(This is a scientific work on the origin and descent of species and
the struggle for existence).

THE GREAT PRIMEVAL FOREST. 157

disposed to deny that it is a regrettable feature in our
modern civilization that men are so wrapped up in business
or pleasure, as to be for the most part indifferent to
anything else ; the perpetually increasing competition
in the struggle for existence which is always going on,
being often more than sufficient to occupy their whole
time and energies: until physical exhaustion demands,
during their leisure moments, rest from all mental exertion.

As regards the question of tree life itself, it is a
large subject, on which volumes have been written
without exhausting the innumerable features worthy
of note, connected with so great a branch of scientific
research. We propose therefore to confine our observa-
tions on this head to a general description, including
a brief notice of a few of the principal kinds of trees,
remarkable either for their gigantic size, beauty, or
value, from a commercial point of view; a short description
of which, we think, will serve to convey a better idea
than anything else, of the impressive and — once seen
— never-to-be-forgotten grandeur of the great forest
region of the temperate zone in its finest aspects.

It is a theme not easy to do justice to, and may be
held to be one which, while it affords boundless scope
for the descriptive powers of writers, both of fact and
fiction, will still surpass the finest efforts of any of them.

Perhaps also we ought to preface our remarks by
saying that if in our efforts to portray the splendour
of forest scenery we appear to devote undue attention
to the great woods of North America — it is because
the forest region there is better known than that of
any other great wilderness of tree life in any other
part of the world, and because a much fuller and better

158 DENSE COVERTS IN AMERICAN FORESTS.

description has been given of it by the pens of many
writers, of different nations and languages, than of any
similar region elsewhere.

One hundred and thirty, or one hundred and forty
years ago, when the great struggle which was then
going on between Great Britain and France for
dominion over North America first attracted the general
attention of the civilized world to those regions, nearly
the whole seaboard of that great continent appeared
to be one vast forest region, both on its Atlantic and
also to a great extent upon its Pacific coasts ; and how
far the forest extended inland, or whether or not it
stretched in one unbroken expanse from sea to sea,
was practically unknown. There had been vague
rumours from Spanish and French sources of a great plains
country to the westward of the Mississippi, but nothing
definite was known about it, for the records of the early
discoveries by the Jesuit missionaries were generally kept
a close secret among the archives of the government offi-
ces at Paris and Madrid ; indeed it is only within quite
recent years that access has been obtained to them at all.

Mr. Parkman tells us that at the time of the British
conquest of Canada, in 1760, throughout all that
country and the United States, except where the
woods had been actually cleared away by the settlers—
* one vast continuous forest overshadowed the fertile
soil, covering the land as grass covers a garden lawn,
burying mountains and valleys in verdure. " *

At the opening of the revolutionary war in 1775,
Mr. Roosevelt, in describing the forests in the revolted
provinces, says that:

* The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman, 1885, Vol. i.,
p. 147-

THE LIQUID HIGHWAYS OF THE FOREST. 159

" the underbush grew dense and rank between the tall
trees, making a cover so thick that in many places it was
impenetrable ; and nowhere could the eye see as far as a bow
could carry. No horse could penetrate it, save by following
the game trails or paths chopped with the axe. Here and
there it was broken by a rare hillside glade or meadow, but
elsewhere a man might travel for weeks in a perpetual twi-
light, the interlacing twigs forming a dark canopy above his
head." *

At that time narrow trails such as are here described,
led through the recesses of the forest, from one clearing
to another, and often formed the only channels of
communication with the outer world.

When the darkness of the night closed in upon them,
these isolated spots, which were often separated from
each other by several days' journey, were as much
cut off from all external help and intercourse with the
world, as if they had been situated in mid ocean; all
moving about by night, within the shadow of the
trees, being impossible. But in most places it was
the rivers which formed " the liquid highways of the
wilderness " f — and it was by their means that all the
main lines of communication were kept up throughout
the country. From time immemorial the Red Indian
forest tribes had used them as such.

It is impossible to conceive anything more perfect
than the beauty and romantic nature of the scenery
along the course of some of these streams, which wind
like a silver thread through the pathless depths of the
woods, whose overhanging branches often dip into the
current, and whose dark masses of pines and other trees,

* The Winning of the West, by Theodore Roosevelt, 1889, Vol. i.,
p. 80

f The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman, 1885, Vol. i.,
P- 155-

160 GAME ON THE OHIO 150 YEARS AGO,

hedge them in like a wall on either side; and as an
instance of the luxuriant wealth and bounty which
Nature used sometimes to exhibit, in the early colonial
days, before the wondering eyes of travellers, as they
floated along the stream of some of the great rivers
which flowed through the American forest, we may just
quote a description given by the explorer Gist, of his
journey along the valley of the Ohio in 1751 :

" The land beyond the Scioto, except the first twenty
miles, is rich and level — bearing walnut trees of huge size,
the maple, the wild cherry, and the ash; full of little streams
and rivulets; variegated by beautiful natural prairies, covered
with wild rye, blue grass, and white clover. Turkeys abounded,
and deer and elks, and most sorts of game ; of buifalbs thirty
or forty were frequently seen feeding in one meadow." *

It is clear from the park-like character of this coun-
try, and from the fact that buffalos included it within
their feeding grounds, that the explorer was then probably
approaching the limits of the forest region at that point ;
and although there is no such sportsman's paradise to
be met with in America nowadays, there are still to
be found many equally perfect scenes of placid beauty,
fresh from Nature's hand, where the lover of the angle
may find ample occupation for the exercise of his skill,
and be rewarded by sport of exceptional excellence.
Also perhaps, it may be as well to mention, that the
above passage extracted from Gist's Journal, f is im-
portant, as disproving the allegation sometimes made,
that the range of the buffalo never passed far, if at
all, to the eastward of the Mississippi river.

The numerous tribes of forest Indians who at that

* History of the United States, by Geo. Bancroft, i8th edition,
Boston, 1862, vol. iv, ch. iii , p. 78, "The Exploration of Ohio."

y Gist's Journal in Pownall's Appendix, p. ii. (Quoted by Bancroft).

INDIAN BIRCH BARK CANOES. 161

time occupied the country, used to skim the surface of
all these waters in their birch bark canoes, whose model
continues, even to our own day, to be regarded as
the perfection of combined strength, lightness, and grace
of construction.

These canoes are manufactured from the bark of a
noble species of birch, peculiar to the American forests,
known as the " canoe " or " paper " birch (Betula
Papyracea>i, which grows to an immense size, and it is
said " attains to the height of 70 feet, and is often three
feet in diameter." * Mr. James Brown, a high authority
on questions of forestry, states that specimens occasionally
grow to dimensions considerably greater than the above,
which may be regarded as the more usual size of fine
trees of this description of birch ; for he states that he
has found specimens of the canoe birch in Canada,
which are "not infrequently from 90 to 100 feet in
height, with a diameter exceeding 4 feet 6 inches." f
But in general, he admits, it does not exceed the
dimensions given by Captain Levinge. Mr. Brown
also states that the canoe birch differs from the common
birch, in that it never grows on soils of a wet or sour
character, such as the other varieties are usually
found on, but upon land of an altogether better and
drier description, in which localities alone it is capable
of flourishing. §

To the Indian, the explorer, and the settler, the
birch tree stands pre-eminent, if not as the most valuable,
at any rate as one of the most valuable of all trees —

* Echoes from the Back-woods, by Captain R. G. A. Levinge, 1849,
vol. i., p. 116.

f The Forester, by James Brown, 4th edit., London, 1871, p. 239.
§ Ibid., p. 239.

VOL. II. II

1 62 VEGETABLE QUALITIES OF BIRCH BARK.

because of the immense number of useful purposes to
which its bark can be applied. Nearly all the house-
hold utensils employed by the Indians were made of
it; it formed a covering for the roofs of their wig-
wams; and when on the march, a roll of birch bark
served as a light and waterproof covering to shield
them from the rains. Beautiful boxes and other
ornamental articles can also be manufactured from it.
Lastly, pieces of dry birch bark make the best of all
kindling for fires; and a small tightly twisted roll
makes an excellent extemporized torch, should a brilliant
light be required for a short time ; when once fairly
alight it is not easily blown out by wind, but burns
with a clear bright flame, emitting a smoke which has
a delicious aromatic fragrance. In Russia an oil is
also made from birch bark, which is alleged, when
rubbed upon the skin, to be a sovereign remedy
against mosquitoes. The scent of " Russian leather "
is due to the same source.

The birch tree, of which there are numerous vari-
eties, is found almost everywhere throughout the colder
portions of the temperate zone, upon alluvial flats,
and along the borders of lakes and rivers; and with
the exception perhaps of certain kinds of dwarf willows,
its range extends further to the northwards than that
of any other sort of tree. In the neighbourhood of the
arctic circle however, in common with all forms of
arborescent growths, it gradually becomes dwarfed in
size, and large specimens are no longer seen; but its
beauty and elegance of form and colour, in far northern
situations, can hardly fail to make a lasting impression
on the traveller's recollection; for where the winters
become of arctic severity, the intensely brilliant colours

MANUFACTURE OF INDIAN CANOES. 163

of the external layers of its bark become most striking,
the weatherside of each tree appearing as if coated
by a covering of the purest driven snow, while the
mottled surface of the remaining portions are flecked
with every conceivable shade of grey, brown, and
black, all of the most brilliant hues of their kind,
and often appear highly polished, as if by some
artificial process.

As regards the manufacture of birch bark canoes,
they are made by almost all the northern forest tribes
to the eastwards of the Rocky Mountains, but the
canoes of the Chippeways have generally been regarded
as the ne plus ultra of artistic design, and Catlin in
his standard work on the red man (though his largest
experiences were among the prairie Indians) gives it
as his opinion that:

" the Chippeway canoe is perhaps the most beautiful and
lightest model of all the water crafts that ever were invented "
— and he states that " they are generally made complete with
the rind of one tree" (the Betula Papyracea, as we have
before observed) " and so ingeniously shaped and sewed
together, with the roots of the tamarack, that they are water-
tight, and ride upon the waters as light as a cork." *

According to Captain Levinge, the bark is best
obtained in the winter months, and a fire is applied
to make the tree peel freely, f As regards this, we
are in some doubt, as trees are known to peel more
freely when the sap is up than at any other time ; and
Catlin says it is removed from the trees by the Indians
in summer. § But however that may be, there can be

* The North American Indians, by George Catlin; Edition of 1857,
Vol. ii., p. 138.

f Echoes from the Back-woods, by Captain R. G. A. Levinge, 1849,
Vol. i., p. lib.

§ Ibid., Catlin's Indians, Vol. ii.

164 CARRYING POWERS OF BARK CANOES.

no doubt that the birch bark canoe is, after their gun
and blanket, by far the most valuable article among
the forest Indians' effects ; and Captain Levinge assures
us that the growth of every canoe birch sapling of any
promise is jealously watched over by them, as trees
sufficiently clean and free from knots to make canoes
are scarce and difficult to find. The bark which forms
the outer shell of the canoe having been got into shape,
the gunwales and thwarts are formed of strips of ash
or other hard wood, and the delicately formed ribs and
flooring are made of white cedar or pine, while the
whole is sewed together with fibrous roots carefully
prepared for the purpose, and the seams are coated,
so as to be perfectly watertight, with the gum of
the spruce or balsam firs, which is plentifully found
throughout the great pine forests. *

These beautiful boats are far from being as frail as
they look, and Captain Campbell Hardie says that a
canoe scarcely exceeding 60 Ibs. weight, will carry four
persons and a proportionate quantity of luggage, f
While Captain Levinge considers that the average
weight of the larger canoes from sixteen to twenty-one
feet in length, is about 120 Ibs., and in such a one he
assures us, he has often see an Indian family, fifteen or
sixteen in number, stowed away, with all their goods
and chattels; and, "loaded in this way, to the very
water's edge," he says, " they will fearlessly hoist an
old blanket by way of a lug sail, and carry on when
a tremendous sea is running." § In crossing some of

* See Echoes from the Backwoods, by Captain R. G. A Levinge,
1849, Vol i., pp. 117, 118; and Captain Campbell Hardie's Forest
Life in Arcadia, 1869, pp. 295—6.

j Forest Life in Arcadia, by Captain Campbell Hardie, 1869^.295.

§ Echoes from the Backwoods, by Captain R. G. A. Levinge, 1849,
Vol. i., p. 1 1 8.

SCIENTIFIC CONSTRUCTIONS BY SAVAGE RACES 165

the larger lakes with which many parts of the country
abound, the seaworthy properties of the Indian canoes
are often put to a severe test, as a very ugly sea gets
up in no time when a storm comes on. It is however
in shooting rapids that the skill of the Indian voyageur
is seen to its best advantage ; and it is safe to say they
will often guide these frail bark boats down tremendous
rapids, which would test to the utmost the strength
and buoyancy of many a stoutly built European boat,
as well as the sailor-like qualities of her crew. In
forest travelling however the lumbering white man's boat
is but a poor substitute of the light Indian canoe, espe-
cially in going up-stream, when falls and other obstruc-
tions require frequent portages; the bark canoe can
then be carried by one man.

It has been well said that " necessity is the mother
of invention," and certainly we venture to think that
the birch bark canoe is by far the most wonderful in-
stance that has ever been recorded, of scientific invention
and construction executed by savage races. These
remarkable boats, we do not hesitate to say, would
have shed a ray of glory upon the constructive genius
of our best naval architects, had they been invented by
them. They are very light and buoyant, and withal
so strong, that they float like a cork on the most
troubled waters. They are however easily upset, by
incautious persons unaccustomed to their management ;
as having no keel, they have no hold upon the water
to maintain their stability — but the Indian by balancing
himself like a rider on horseback, rarely gets overset ;
and should he at any time do so, he can swim along-
side and right his boat again, and after bailing it
partially out, can climb on board over one end and

1 66 AMERICAN PINE TIMBER.

continue his voyage, though some of his effects when
sinkable may get lost occasionally.

We must now turn our attention to the grand family
of pine trees, which always take a leading place* in
every description of North American forestry — the
numerous varieties of these trees, whose name is legion,
undoubtedly formed what were even in quite recent
years, the largest and finest forests in the world; for
magnificent and justly renowned though many of the
Canadian and United States forests near the great
lakes and the eastern seaboard unquestionably were;
it is now well known that all the largest and hand-
somest trees are mostly strictly confined to the
region lying to the westward of the Rocky Moun-
tains, extending from California to British Columbia
and Alaska.

Of the trees on the eastern seaboard, it is almost
universally conceded that the " Pinus Strobus " is the
most valuable from a commercial point of view. This
tree furnishes most of the American "white deal"
timber, so well known in the European markets; and
in England it is known as the Weymouth Pine,
from the absurd reason that some plantings grown
from seed imported from America, proved a success
near Weymouth.

The habitat of this grand American tree is in por-
tions of the northern United States and Canada, where
it forms splendid natural forests of vast extent, along
the banks of rivers and in fertile valleys and bottoms. The
trees grow pretty thickly together, the trunks often
ascending in favourable situations to 100 feet or more
without a branch; the growth of a grove of these
pines being very uniform and gregarious, the under

WHITE PINE FORESTS. 167

branches die for a long" way up the stem, and drop
from the trees of their own accord — Nature thus
enabling them to prune themselves, while the dense
canopy of interlacing branches creates so deep a
shade, that the ground is often quite bare below,
rendering it open and easy to traverse in consequence
of the absence of underwood. Bracken and but little
else, grows beneath, and the foot treads noiselessly
on a soft slippery surface of fallen tassels. * Un-
fortunately such a lot of white pine trees was just
the thing to attract the attention of a gang of lum-
bermen, whose destructive axes soon laid every fine
specimen low, so that it is to be feared a grove of
this kind is now becoming conspicuous only by its
absence, or at least being only to be found in the re-
moter solitudes of the forest, where long and expen-
sive expeditions must be taken to reach them, though
occasional groups of these majestic pines may still be
found, " and their summits seen at an immense distance,
aspiring toward heaven, far above the heads of the
surrounding trees." f

In former days gigantic specimens of the Pinus
Strobus were common, and almost matched the magni-
ficent trees that are yet to be seen in Oregon and
British Columbia. Mr. Lambert, a well-known authority
on the pine tribe, speaking of the Pinus Strobus,
says:—

" It is certain that among full-grown trees on the best ground,
there are some 200 feet high, and 4 to 5 feet in diameter
at the lower end of the trunk. Wangenheim tells us that he

* Forest Life in Arcadia, by Capt. Campbell Hardie, R.A., 1869,
pp. 27—29.

j- Echoes from the Backwoods, by Capt. R. G. A. Levinge, 1849.
Vol. i., p. 285.

1 68 THE DOUGLAS FIR.

was convinced of the truth of this statement when he sa\\
in the dockyard at Plymouth, two masts for 74 gun ships,
which measured in the whole piece, 108 feet in length, and
the roller was everywhere 3 feet in diameter. Such a tree
must have been 200 feet long, and 5 feet or more in diameter." *

But grand and majestic as these great specimens of
the Pinus Strobus undoubtedly are, they must yield
the palm to some of the pines of the forests of North
Western America. There are many other trees in
Canada and the Eastern States which are well worthy
of a short description, but we must hurry on to glance
at the gigantic trees found in the great primeval
forests of the Pacific coast.

The first of these of which we shall speak is the
Abies Douglasii or Douglas fir, the finest specimens
of which have, we believe, been found in Vancouver
Island, and on the Frazer River, where it forms
extensive forests. It is one of the most beautiful and
valuable of all conifers, and grows to a size truly
gigantic. On the site of what is now Vancouver
city — the present terminus of the Canadian Pacific
Railway — and in the neighbourhood of that town, on
Burrard Inlet, was a renowned group of these trees,
and " many still standing around the city, are from
250 to 350 feet high and 12 feet in diameter at the
base, or about 36 feet in girth," f growing so close
together that the trees almost seem to touch each
other; for the same description goes on to say, that
" another thing which surprised us was the small

* Description of the Genus Pinus, by A. B. Lambert, F.R.S., 1803,
Vol. i, p. 32.

•j- By Track and Trail through Canada, by Edward Roper, F.R.G.S.,
1891, p. 185.

SECTION OF AN ANCIENT TREE. 169

space between the trees; there hardly seemed enough
room to pass between them." *

On the opposite coast upon Vancouver Island
equally large specimens are sometimes found, thus we
hear: — "Mr. Smith, a farmer of Cowichen told us of
a Douglas fir in his neighbourhood, 1 2 feet in diameter
10 feet from the ground, and at the ground it was 50
feet around;" and again "Planks of 6 or 7 feet wide,
and So feet long, are frequently cut from the Douglas
fir. This shows the immense size of the timber." f

In the South Kensington Museum, London, a section
of an Abies Douglasii is exhibited, cut in the neigh-
bourhood of the Frazer River, in 1 885, the number of whose
rings show that it was then 533 years old: this takes us
back to 1352, the 25th year of the reign of Edward III.
This tree was about 6 feet in diameter, where the
section was made, and on it are marked the dates of
various remarkable events in the world's history, co-
temporary with certain of its rings, formed during the
period of its lifetime. It was already a large tree at
the time of the birth of Shakespeare (April 23, 1564)
and since 1776, the date of American Independence,
it has only increased in diameter about 9 inches. At
the time of the Battle of Poictiers (Sept. 19, 1356) it
was growing as a stout seedling, in the silence of these
great primeval woods. §

These facts furnish us with an apt illustration of the

* By Track and Trail through Canada, by Edward Roper, F.R.G.S.,
1891, p. 185. [N.B. — The Douglas fir has already proved itself to
be one of the most valuable conifers ever introduced into the British
Islands, both as an ornamental, and as a timber tree. In favourable
situations, it is probably the quickest growing of all firs, and its shoots
will frequently measure from 4 to 5 feet during a single season's growth.]

f Life and Labour in the Far Far West, by W. Henry Barneby,
2nd edit. 1884, p. 137.

§ Notes taken by the Author in South Kensington Museum.

170 GREAT FLAGSTAFFS.

ephemeral character of human existence, and tell us
how small a thing is the life of the individual man
when compared to that of one of these great trees.

Then again, in the Botanical Gardens at Kew, there
is a flagstaff made from a pole of the A bies Douglasii,
brought from Vancouver Island, and presented to these
gardens in 1861. It is 159 feet high, and weighs 4
tons 8 cwts 2 qrs., and the age of the tree was about 250
years. * It is generally supposed that this is one of
the highest flagstaffs in the world, formed from a single
tree. Nevertheless England furnishes us with instances
of other noble flagstaffs still superior in dimensions-
thus the flagstaff on the Round Tower, at Windsor
Castle, which has been standing for more than 50 years,
has recently been condemned by the War Office
Authorities, who have ordered its removal and " a new
staff will be forwarded from the Dockyard at Portsmouth.
The condemned staff is 170 feet in height, and is 5
feet in circumference at the base." f

Unfortunately we have not been able to ascertain
the precise variety of tree from which this latter great
staff was formed, or whether it was built up, or made
from a single piece of timber — but at any rate, no one
can deny that it formed a right worthy pole, from
which the Royal Standard of England has floated for
over half a century.

It is quite worth our while to revert for a moment
to the accounts which have been given of the splendid
forests which even still surround the Pacific Terminus
of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Vancouver City.

* Details given on a plate attached to this flagstaff, copied by the
Author on the spot.

j The Globe (London Evening paper) of Sept. I,

BURRARD INLET. 1 7 I

The town, as we have said, is situated on the edge of
Burrard Inlet, a natural arm of the sea, some 17 miles
long, which forms a perfectly land-locked tidal basin,
with still deep water almost everywhere coming close
up to the shores. Hills rise abruptly from the water's
edge on every side, covered with magnificent forests
of Douglas fir, * Hemlock Spruce, f and Cedar, §
which descend to the very edge of the sea in every
part of the inlet. Strong tidal currents exist almost
everywhere in these seas, and near the mouth of this
inlet, at a place called " the narrows " at certain stages
of the tide the water runs like a mill race, at perhaps
6 or 7 miles an hour. This description may be said
to hold good for nearly all the inlets on the British
Columbian coasts, which are very numerous, and nearly
all of which we have visited: the waters of which are
sometimes so deep that it is frequently difficult for a
ship to anchor at all; they are also beautifully clear,
and numerous fish may frequently be seen swimming
beneath their surface and disporting themselves in the
tide rips. Salmon and sea trout swarm in all these
waters, forming a very paradise for anglers, as the
reader will see in the more particular accounts of this
region given in our section on "Fishing" — for this is
a country we are well acquainted with. The scenery
in many of these inlets too, is magnificent, reminding
one greatly of Norway, which has much the same kind
of coast and scenery, minus however, the superb, and
never-to-be-sufficiently-admired forests, of whose regal
grandeur and magnificence we purpose now to give a
short account. The Norwegian forests are as nothing
in comparison.

* Abies Douglasii. j Abies Canadensis. § Thuja Gigantea.

172 A MARVELLOUS FOREST.

Mr. Barneby, who in 1884 published an account of
an excursion he made along the shores of Burrard
Inlet a year or two previously, says:—

" We trudged along through wonderfully dense forests for
about three miles. It is impossible to describe how dense
and beautiful it was. Moss hung from many of the trees;
indeed, numbers of these were covered with ferns, hanging
mosses, and creepers — and many plants I did not know the
name of grew in every direction — I never saw before, such
a charming forest scene; and I must also acknowledge, that
until this trip, I never before saw real trees— I mean trees
of such immense growth. The timber here was magnificent,
and the foliage most luxuriant, the colour of the leaves being
beautiful in the extreme. It was quite like fairyland. The
ferns wrere sometimes several feet above our heads." *

In a still more recent book by the same author, he
gives an account of an excursion made in a buggy,
from Vancouver City along a road newly made through
the forest. First he alludes to the fearful destruction
wrought by lumberers among these noble trees, and
says:

" For a mile we had to pass through burning stumps of
Douglas pine on each side, as the process of clearing is
making rapid strides in this direction. In travelling by this
new road it seemed odd to find some of the stumps of trees,
divided into two, the centre being taken out, in order to get
a proper width of track, instead of being cleared away at
once. This shows what an immense size these trees must
have been, as a portion was left on either side of the road.
We were soon in the primeval forest, where Douglas pines
were the chief feature, running straight up from 100 to 200
feet. We travelled along a gravel ridge until we reached what

* Life and Labour in the Far Far West, by W. Henry Barneby,
2nd edit. 1884, pp. 120 — 21

CEDAR BOTTOMS. 173

is called a ' Cedar Bottom ' : and in order to properly appreciate
these forest scenes in all their perfection, commend me to a
' Cedar Bottom. ' The one I allude to, is supposed to have
been originally caused by a beaver dam. Hemlock, cedar,
and Douglas pine were there, running up to such a height
that it almost made one giddy to look up : moss 4 or 5 feet
long hung from, and intertwined itself round the branches, and
the ground must have been covered yards deep with trees of
all descriptions, rotting with age, lying on the ground in every
possible position. The whole scene was as perfect a picture
of untouched Natural beauty as could well be imagined : and
no description can do justice to it. The skunk lily, and many
varieties of ferns, tended to show the dampness of the spot,
and also to make me realize how lovely a fernery can be
—without the aid of art." *

We might go on almost " ad infinitum " adding
paragraph after paragraph to a similar effect, culled from
the works of various authors; for many books have
been written about it. More than 35 years ago we
ourselves traversed these forests on foot in company
with Indians. We have hunted through them, and
fished in their streams and inlets, before the white
man had made any settlement in them; and encamped
beneath their shadows before the silence of these
grand old woods had been broken by the lumberer's
axe, or their natural beauty defaced by the work of
destruction which has since been commenced in them :
— a destruction which it is grievous to us to hear of.
At that time, New Westminster, the capital of British
Columbia, was itself a mere collection of a few log houses,
planted in a gap cut in the forest upon the banks of
the Frazer River, and dark and lofty walls of pine

* The New Far West and the Old Far East, by W. Henry Barneby,
1889, pp. 64 to 66.

T74 GIANT CEDARS.

enclosed it on every side. Burrard Inlet was then a
place rarely visited by white men, and could only be
reached by a narrow Indian trail, whose devious
windings led to it, through the heart of this grand
forest, a distance of 6 or 7 miles, and so far as we
are aware not a single settler's cabin then existed upon
its shores.

Now — a great city is rising in what was then the
Wilderness *- — the railroad coasts along its verdant
slopes, and spans the continent from sea to sea. Nor
perhaps is it too much to predict that before another
generation has passed away, Burrard Inlet will be
one of the great emporiums of the commerce of the
world— but its wild and desolate grandeur, its Indians,
its magnificent forests, its game, and gigantic trees-
all will have disappeared, and their memory will consist
only in a name.

There is another tree, which has been already
referred to as common in these woods, which is hardly
less remarkable in its size and growth than the
Douglas fir, — namely the yellow cedar (Thuja Giganted].
It is a species of a gigantic, and sweetly scented
arbor vttcz, of very rapid growth, whose range ex-
tends all over North Western America, f It is found
growing in the forests of the arctic province of
Alaska, and seems to do particularly well in the
northern parts of British Columbia and in the Queen

* Vancouver City — Western Terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
and probable great British N.W. American seaport of the 2oth century.

f Seedlings of this tree succeed admirably all over the British Islands,
and we consider it one of the most valuable additions to our sylvan
treasures that has been introduced of late years. It passes under several
names in Nursery Catalogues.

GREAT CEDAR CANOES. 175

Charlotte Islands — a group of wild, and densely wooded
islands, which on account of lying in the track of a
warm ocean current, are blessed with a singularly
mild and genial climate, considering their latitude; so
that in consequence trees of marvellous size are said
to be met with in their forests. The bark of this
cedar is of a fibrous nature so that the Indians manu-
facture ropes, cords, and mats from it. * It is from
this tree also that the Indians make their large canoes,
which are really very fine sea boats, and most
excellent craft in every way. The birch-bark canoe
is never seen on the Pacific coast ; the dug-out takes
its place, and is of course, as its name denotes, con-
structed out of the trunk of a single tree.

The finest specimens of these great canoes are
made by the Hydahs, the Bella-Bellas, and other
tribes inhabiting the Queen Charlotte Islands, where
they are fashioned by the native workmen with
wonderful skill, partly by the aid of rude tools, and
partly by that of fire, upon beautiful lines very similar
to those of a clipper ship. They are made of all
sizes, from a small boat capable of being worked by
one or two men, to a gigantic affair capable of crossing
the stormy sea which separates these islands from
the great island of Vancouver, - and the mainland,
even in pretty heavy weather. A large canoe of this
kind has frequently been known to make her passage
under these circumstances, paddled by 30 or 40 persons,
and carrying several tons of freight in addition to
her crew. In former days a descent of a fleet of
these canoes, manned by these warlike natives, was
much dreaded by the tribes all along the coast.

* See The Queen Charlotte Islands, by F. Poole, C.E., 1872, p. 114.

176 GREAT CYPRESS TREES.

Merchant vessels trading along the N.W. coasts have
often been known to fall victims to the attacks of
these pirates, who massacred the crews, pillaged and
burnt the ships, and so left nothing behind that might
indicate the fate that had befallen the unfortunate
ship; though the truth generally leaked out in the
end, from reports circulating among the other tribes,
some members of whom were pretty sure to have
witnessed what occurred, while they themselves were
securely concealed, shrouded in the shadow of the
great and pathless forests that enclosed these waters,
which are seldom so broad as to be beyond the reach
of the eagle eyes of these watchful savages.

Another beautiful and most ornamental tree some-
what similar in character to the giant cedar, is the Nootka
Sound cypress (Cupressus Nutkaenis, [Lambert]), per-
haps more generally known as the " Thuiopsis Borealis "
(Fischer), mostly found on the Western coasts of Van-
couver Island, where it forms a large and beautiful
tree, growing to 100 feet in height, and 4 feet in
diameter. * Many fine specimens of this tree, and of
the giant cedar, adorn the lawns of English parks
where they have been found perfectly hardy, and they
are moreover a great acquisition to most European
collections.

Among the silver firs most remarkable for size
and beauty in British Columbia, and North Western
America generally, we may mention Picea Grandis,
originally discovered by Douglas in Northern California,
but afterwards found in great abundance by Jeifry,
along the banks of the Frazer, according to whom
specimens of it were found near Fort Langley 280

* Gordon's Pinetum, 1880, p. 94.

GIGANTIC SILVER FIRS. 177

feet high, 5 feet in diameter, and with a trunk of 50
feet without branches. * Picea Amabilis is another
magnificent tree of at least as gigantic a growth, seen
towering above all other trees in the forests of Northern
California.

It was also found growing by Jeffry on the moun-
tains to the eastward of the Frazer River, in Lat.
50°, where he saw it growing in gravelly soil to a
height of 250 feet, and 5 feet in diameter, with 60
feet of stem without branches, f

Picea Lowiana is another splendid tree of almost
equal size, found throughout North Western America
in valleys, and along alluvial flats near rivers, grow-
ing 250 feet high, and measuring 5 and 6 feet in dia-
meter. §

Picea Magnified is yet another, furnished with beau-
tiful glaucous foliage, forming immense trees in the
Sierra Nevada and Upper California. **

But the gem of the whole collection, from an orna-
mental point of view, is undoubtedly the Picea
Nobilis, which is found on the Columbia River and
Northern California, growing to a height of 200 feet,
remarkable, like the last named, for its peculiarly
beautiful glaucous foliage of a deep blue-green tint,
and its singularly striking cinnamon-coloured bark.
This noble silver fir is found ascending the mountain sides
to an elevation of 8000 feet. In Northern California,
according to Douglas, it forms vast and majestic
forests, through which he wandered for weeks, noting
their botanical treasures; at one time he says: — "I
spent three weeks in a forest composed of this tree,

* Gordon's Pinetrtm, 1 8 80, p. 217. f Ibid., p. 217.

§ Ibid., p. 218. ** Ibid., p. 219.

VOL. II. 12

178 SUGAR PINES.

and day by day could not cease to admire it." *
These brief details will serve to give some idea of
the extraordinary vegetable wealth, the splendour, and
enormous size of the trees in the forests of the great
North West, and which may undoubtedly be regarded as
the finest and most valuable in the world. But these
giant trees above mentioned are only a few among
many, and by no means exhaust the list of those con-
cerning which we should have liked to say a few
words," did we not fear to appear too prolix and thus
weary the reader.

For instance, of the tree pines, the pitch pine (Pinus
Ponderosd), the singularly lovely Lasiocarpa, and the
truly gigantic sugar pine (Pinus Lamb er Hand] which
runs up straight as an arrow to quite 300 feet in
height, and upon whose edible seeds the forest tribes
used to live in the winter time, are notable instances in
point — the resin of this last named tree is also sometimes
used as aJ substitute for sugar, f and hence no doubt the
name of sugar pine. There are also an infinite variety
of flowering plants and shrubs and beautiful evergreens,
such as the arbutus and the evergreen oak, which grow
magnificently in California. " I could hardly (says Mr.
Barneby) have imagined that evergreen oaks could attain
to such magnificent proportions" § — but the list of vege-
table wonders would be indeed singularly incomplete if we
omitted to mention two of the greatest of all namely : the
giant Sequoias, the largest and noblest of trees — these are,
the Sequoia Sempervirens, a lofty evergreen known as the

* Gordon's Pinetum, pp. 207 — 8.
•j- Ibid., p. 307.

§ Life and Labour in the Far Far West, by W. Henry Barneby,
1884, pp. 61, 62.

MAMMOTH TREES. 179

Californian red wood cedar, growing at least 300
feet in height, a specimen of which has been found
measuring 55 feet in circumference, * and the mam-
moth Sequoia Gigantea — generally known in England
as the Wellingtonia, while the Americans insist
that it is the Washingtonia. These absurd cogno-
mens, named after men neither of whom ever saw the
trees, and the latter of whom was dead long before
they had been discovered, may well be left to settle
their respective claims among themselves. The Sequoia
Gigantea seems to have been first discovered by Douglas,
a British botanist and traveller in California, in 1831,
and one of its peculiarities is that it does not grow
singly about the country, but only in groves, of which
the principal ones at present known are that in Calaveras
County, the Mariposa, the Fresno, and one or two other
minor groves — of these the largest trees are still said to be
original "Big Tree Grove" in Calaveras ; where at the
time of our visit there was a tree lying on the ground,
partly destroyed by fire, which competent judges de-
clared must have been 450 feet high and 60 feet in
girth. It was called the "Father of the Forest"— and
there were others still standing not very much smaller
than this giant. In the Mariposa grove, which contains
nearly 1000 trees, the largest specimen is said to be
325 feet high and 92 feet in circumference. Most of
these trees are as straight as an arrow and are very
similar in this respect in all the groves, where they
constitute the perfection of natural beauty both in their
growth and colouring. The sight of their enormous
stems, rising up from the earth like gigantic natural
columns, sheathed in a bark of bright cinnamon red

* Gordon's Pinetum, 1880, p. 379.

180 ANTIQUITY OF GREAT SEQUOIAS.

hue ; their great height, girth, and magnificent pro-
portions— all contribute to create an impression upon
the beholder which can never be effaced. These groves
are however now so well known (being visited by
thousands of tourists every season), that it would be
out of place to enter into any detailed description of
them in these pages, as such can be found better
detailed in guide books and tourists' narratives.

We would not, however, have the reader forget the
vast antiquity which these trees represent in the world's
history: it has been variously estimated at from 3000
to 4000 years — perhaps more. These venerable patri-
archs of the forest were probably some of them gigantic
trees at the time of the Christian era — and may still
bid defiance to the storms of time for thousands of
years to come. Their great enemy seems to have
been, not the weight of years and the natural decay
due to age: but rather the destruction wrought by
forest fires, which seem to have done more than any-
thing else to lay the giant specimens low and injure the
beauty of those still upstanding.

The vitality of these trees seems to be something
almost incredible, as the fresh bark overgrowing charred
cavities seems to prove : the enormous thickness of the
bark being such, that they can bid defiance to forest
fires in a way no ordinary tree could hope to do.
Time, the destroyer, has in all other respects evidently
dealt gently with these aged trees — they have stood
for thousands of years already, and long may they
continue to do so, superior to all the accidents of time
and change.

Heretofore we have said nothing of the trees of the

EUCALYPTI. 1 8 1

southern temperate zone, but if we go to Australia we
shall find in the noble eucalypti (there called "gum
trees ") worthy rivals of the giant Sequoias.

These remarkable trees give quite a special charac-
ter to Australian scenery, and undoubtedly constitute
the most notable feature among the vegetable products
of that continent: their sombre bluish green foliage,
and peculiar tough sabre-like form of leaf, at once
attract attention when contrasted with that of other
trees, as we find in Egypt and Algeria, where many
varieties of eucalypti are now grown from seed imported
from Australia, and form noble looking trees, which
grow with immense rapidity.

The banks of rivers and watercourses in Australia
are generally bordered by eucalypti, which often
attain a gigantic size, and grow to a height of more
than 250 feet, with a girth of from 12 to 20 feet*
The natural habit of these trees (which belong to the
family of the Myrtacece) is to shoot up straight as an
arrow, with comparatively few large branches; and
they bear blossoms like a myrtle, the flowers being
mostly of a pinkish or yellowish white colour. But
there are numerous varieties, f and eucalypti are so
plentiful in Australia, that they compose almost four-
fifths of the forests. § Some are of dwarf habit, but
other grow to a truly gigantic size and vie with the
Wellingtonia (Sequoia Gigantea) of California for the
honour of being the largest trees in the world, a claim

* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for Australia,
Edited by Alfred R. Wallace, 1879, p. 40.

f The Eucalyptus Felicifolia or fern-leafed eucalyptus of S.W. Australia
is an example of a variety bearing magnificent trusses of crimson flowers.

§ Outlines of the Geography of Plants, by Professor F. J. F. Meyen,
of the University of Berlin, 1846, p. 137.

1 82 THE TALLEST TREES IN THE WORLD.

which according to Stanford's Australian Compendium
of Geography is justified by fact, for it is there stated that

" one huge specimen, which lay across a stream, was found
by measurement to be 435 feet from its roots to where the
trunk had been broken off by the fall. This broken end
was 3 feet in diameter, so that at the lowest estimate the
entire tree must have been over 500 feet : by far the loftiest
tree yet ascertained to exist on the globe; at 5 feet from the
ground it measured 18 feet in diameter, and was probably
of the species Eucalyptus Obliqua or Amygdalina. " *

It had been much burnt, and its top entirely destroyed,
so that it appears to have been difficult to decide upon
its exact variety. This great eucalyptus must there-
fore have evidently been considerably taller than the
largest of the Californian Sequoias, the very highest
of which is not supposed to have exceeded 450 feet,
and like its great Australian rival, this tree was also
partly destroyed, so that it was impossible to give
its original size, except from conjecture.

According to Stanford, however, in the Dandenong
range, 40 miles east of Melbourne, the ravines contain
numerous eucalypti over 420 feet high, and one fallen
tree was discovered of 480 feet.f

The foliage of the Australian gum trees (Eucalypti]
exhibit a striking peculiarity, being evidently intended
by Nature for maintaining existence in a country where
intense heat and drought prevails ; the leaves of most of
them therefore, are so arranged as to hang quite straight
down, thus presenting themselves edgeways to the

* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for Australia,
Edited by Alfred R. Wallace, 1879, p. 172.

-j- Ibid., p. 41. [Visitors to Australia often make excursions from
Melbourne for the purpose of seeing these trees, a trip which is well
worth making].

EUCALYPTUS LEAVES. 183

sun, so that they avoid exposure to the full power of
its rays, and while pendant in this position have the
peculiarity of throwing no shade whatever upon the
ground below. Thus Colonel Mundy among other tra-
vellers mentions this curious fact, and says that: "the
foliage of the gum tree is so thin and pendulous that when
the sun is overhead, one rides through the bush, almost
as unsheltered as if there had been no trees. " * More-
over the leaves themselves are quite different in their
texture from those of most other trees : being extremely
thick, hard, and leather-like, so that in very dry times
they do not wither for want of moisture, as more
delicate foliage would naturally do. All of them, when
bruised, and forcibly broken up between the fingers,
have the peculiar aroma of eucalyptine and exhibit
a dry wiry texture, more resembling parchment than
living foliage; we speak, of course, of the old and
matured leaf, and not of the young foliage. Eucalypti
never shed their leaves after the manner of deciduous
trees (the number of deciduous varieties is very
small) ; their leaves all contain considerable quantities of
oil, and those of most species are strongly scented, and
very inflammable, but few of them are however eaten
by stock. The eucalypti as a rule are avoided by
grazing animals on account of their strong odour and
taste.

The hot winds of Australia, which form so remark-
able a feature in the meteorology of that continent, as
we have not failed to point out in our section on
" Climates and Temperatures, " are sometimes exceed-
ingly trying to vegetation of all kinds, and their heat very
intense — and temperatures of 110° F. and upwards have

* Our Antipodes, by Lieut.-Colonel G. C. Mundy, Vol. ii., p. 28.

1 84 BLUE GUM TREES AND MALARIA.

been registered at Sydney. These winds at times continue
to blow for a considerable period without intermission,
their direction being N.W. to S.E. ; a current of hot
air being evidently almost always passing in the
great altitudes of the higher atmosphere in that
direction, so that when this hot current is deflected
by any disturbing cause it sometimes descends, so as to
reach the earth, and hot winds are the consequent result.
These winds blew with fearful intensity for nearly a
month without ceasing, in the early part of 1896.

The frequent occurrence of long droughts and hot
winds in Australia therefore, rendered some expedient
an evident desideratum, to protect vegetation from their
withering effects; and so we see Nature's simple and
effective counter-move is that the foliage of the trees
hangs so as to elude their influence, and instead of
presenting their full front to the sun in the usual way,
the leaves present themselves edgewise to the heat.

In closing this brief notice of the eucalypti, their
remarkable febrifuge qualities ought by no means to
be forgotten — for they are highly prized on account
of their supposed anti-malarial properties ; plantations of
the Eucalyptus Globulus — or blue gum — being believed
in some way to destroy malarial germs. The French
have introduced them largely, for this reason, into their
North African colonies, the anti-malarial power of the
eucalypti being with them almost an article of faith,
though it is not quite certain in what way the effect
is produced; but it is almost universally admitted that
localities which were formerly highly malarious, have
since the introduction of this gum tree become free
from malarial disease. We may mention the case of
Bona, on the N.E. coast, as one of the places where

DISINFECTANTS. 185

eucalypti are alleged to have produced a highly
beneficial effect.

Preparations made from eucalyptus bark have also
come largely into use as disinfectants, and nobody
can deny that their penetrating odour, at any rate,
masks other smells of a more repulsive character:
frankly, however, we are of opinion, that it merely
masks them, but we do not believe that it in any way
alters their specific character.

Here again we are brought face to face with a number
of considerations of too long and too technical a nature
to permit of our entering into them here. Suffice it to
say therefore, that deodorants are in no way necessarily
disinfectants. Indeed, in the proper and scientific sense
of the term, we fear it must be said that thus far no
regular disinfectant is known. This of course at once
raises the whole question as to what is infection? —
Now, infection is generally believed to depend upon
the existence of certain living organisms, or specific
germs, conveyed in various sorts of ways, which are
not necessarily mal-odorous at all ; and the only means
by which disinfection can be said to be effected, is
by the destruction of these germs by some means —
as for instance by a high temperature — and the con-
sequent " sterilization " of the infective medium.

Then as regards the supposed antimalarial properties
of eucalypti, this again raises a fresh cloud of hypo-
thetical points impossible to deal with here: much too
little being known of the real nature of malaria
to warrant any dogmatic assertions being attempted;
but if we might be allowed to express an opinion
upon this matter, we are inclined to regard these
trees simply as water-absorbing mediums, which by

1 86 SCENTED EUCALYPTUS OIL.

drying up the soil in a great measure, thus help to
destroy what is called " malaria. " We believe that
in this way the eucalypti, and also the banana, and
many other plants, have a very great effect upon the
health of a locality. Moreover the cultivation of the
soil of itself greatly assists in destroying malaria,
when it has been carried on for some few years.

This question of the capacity of the leaves and roots
of trees and plants for transforming and absorbing
what is hurtful to our existence, in the decaying pro-
ceeds of animal and vegetable substances, has always
appeared to us to be one of the most beautiful of all
natural phenomena. Before we pass on to other mat-
ters, however, we may just mention that an oil has recently
been discovered which is expected to prove a valuable
acquisition for so-called antiseptic and deodorizing
purposes. It is distilled from the Eucalyptus Citriodora,
a species indigenous to Queensland, which is deliciously
scented. This oil is also expected to be valuable
for inhalations in pulmonary affections etc. * The
young leaves of this tree rubbed between the
fingers have a strong aroma of fresh lemons. Another
Queensland variety, Eucalyptus Staigeriana, or lemon -
scented iron bark tree, is also delightfully fragrant,
and a cosmetic oil of high excellence is distilled from
it also, f

Among the coniferous trees belonging to the forests
of the temperate zone, in the Southern hemisphere,
which call for a few words of notice, is the Kauri
pine of New Zealand (Dammar a Aus traits], a resinous

* See Notice of this oil in Lancet of Oct. 3rd, 1891.

j See Select Extra- Tropical Plants eligible for Indtistrial Culture, by
Baron Ferd. von Mueller, Government Botanist for Victoria, 1891, p
1 88. (Printed for the Government of Victoria).

KAURI PINES AND GUM. 187

and cone-bearing tree with long leaves somewhat
resembling those of the box-tree.

It used to exist there in enormous forests, and has
sometimes been lauded as the best timber which grows
anywhere on the globe, and as much more durable than
any other. * Unfortunately it is not a hardy tree, f and
has not proved a success when tried out of its own
country ; it is also very slow growing, taking quite as
long as, or longer than, the oak to come to maturity,
and it is said to take 800 years to attain its full size,
probably because it grows on rocky and barren volcanic
soils. Its principal habitat is in the province of Auck-
land in the North Island, where it grows to 180 or
200 feet in height, with a diameter of 6 or 7 feet, and
clean stems of 80 feet or even 100 feet without a branch ;
trunks up to 15 feet in diameter are however said to
have been met with in the ancient forests, before the
lumberer had made havoc among these woods. But
these splendid trees are now a thing of the past, and
at the present rate of cutting, it is to be feared that
in 25 or 30 years the Kauri pine forests of New
Zealand will become absolutely extinct.

One of the products of the Kauri pine was a species
of amber-like gum, known as "Kauri gum," which
used to be naturally distilled by the ancient trees in
large quantities; masses of it of considerable value
being still found in the ground, from which the forests
have disappeared, where it had collected in former
days, at the roots of old trees — and it is stated that
in 1876, several thousand tons of this gum, valued

* Timber and Timber Trees, by Thomas Laslett, Inspector to the
Admiralty, 1875, p. 297.

y Gordon's Pinetum, 1880, p. IOQ.

1 88 KAURI PINE TIMBER.

at £109,000, were exported. * Colonel Mundy, who
paid a visit to the Kauri forests in the good old
times, mentions that at the time of his visit he saw

" one tree just felled, which was about 6 feet in diameter,
with about 50 feet of perfectly straight wood. There was
another grand stick 9 feet in diameter, a slice of which would
have made a round table of 27 feet. This tree was still
standing in all its glory, and seemed to have about 80 feet
of bole, little diminishing in size before the branches, and was
calculated to contain 8 to 9 thousand feet of solid timber.
This was not a particularly fine stem however, for some have
100 feet of straight wood, with a fine head towering high
above the forest." f

Mr. Laslett, whose experience in H.M's dockyards
entitles him to speak with authority on the subject
of timber, considers the Kauri pine timber unrivalled
in excellence for masts and yards, § and thinks "that
it may be considered one of the best woods for
working that a carpenter can take in hand." ** He
had an opportunity of admiring these splendid trees
in their native forests, and says, the largest tree he
saw " was one standing near Mercury Bay, 80 feet
to the branches, and 7 2 feet in circumference. " f f In
the South Kensington Museum a transverse section
of a fine specimen of a Kauri pine is exhibited, highly
polished, and of the colour of the finest dark mahog-
any. We regret to say, however, this splendid tree
possesses such peculiarities of constitution that it

* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for Australia,
Edited by A. R. Wallace, 1879, p.

•j- Our Antipodes, by Lieut. -Colonel Q. C. Mundy.

§ Timber and Timber Trees, by Thomas Laslett, Inspector to the
Admiralty, 1875, p. 297.

** Ibid., p. 298.

ft Ibid., p. 295.

THE GREAT FOREST TREE CROPS. 189

has not succeeded when transplanted to Australia and
other situations outside its natural habitat, and it is to
be feared that its extinction is imminent. In the Botan-
ical Gardens at Sydney only one or two wretched
specimens are exhibited. Other varieties of the Dam-
maras are however seen there growing" well, and
apparently quite healthy, but all these are tropical
species imported from some of the South Sea Islands
of which their are four or five different kinds.

The fear of being considered tedious will prevent
our noticing more of the forest products of the
southern temperate zone; as before closing this
section we desire to give a brief consideration
to the curious question of the succession of forest
growths, which take place when the primeval forest
is destroyed, either by human agency, or by accidental
causes, such as fire or tempest; for it has been a
universal subject of remark all over Canada and the
United States that, as a rule, when the destruction of
the original forest took place, the same kind of forest
did not reappear, but that a new sort of forest, com-
posed of different trees, replaced the old.

But this rule evidently must not be accepted without
reservations, for in Oregon and British Columbia we
ourselves have repeatedly traversed tracts of recently
burnt forest, with the dead and withered stems of the
ancient pines still upstanding, while a new growth of
pine seedlings similar to the surrounding forest was
springing up from the parent soil as thick as grass
upon the prairie.

Nature's great rotation of forest crops is neverthe-
less a matter of ascertained fact — and as a rule where
a pine forest has been destroyed, it is replaced by a

I QO WHY CERTAIN TREES DIE OUT.

forest of deciduous trees; and where deciduous trees
have grown, a pine forest takes their place. This
circumstance has been so repeatedly and generally
noticed by settlers and others who have written
upon life in the backwoods in Canada and the United
States, that we deem it unnecessary to do more than
state the fact. It is an article of faith among almost
all those with whom we have conversed upon this
matter.

Now, if we consider for a moment how vast a
period of time the life of these ancient trees re-
presents, this great law of the rotation of Nature's
crops becomes not a little impressive. For ages the
giant pine trees have overshadowed the ground, and
year after year they have shed their seed in countless
myriads all over it — layer after layer of it lies buried
in that exhaustless soil. Why then should their ancient
race and lineage be utterly blotted out, and the
stranger enter in and possess the land? And from
whence do the germs of the alien crowd proceed?—
It is true that seeds may be carried about in great
abundance by birds, and certain kinds of them even
by the gales. By these means seeds become scattered
all over a vast extent of country ; and it seems difficult
to come to any other conclusion than that the existence
of these germs there at all must be due to some such
agency.

But why should they alone survive ? And why should
the succession to the ancient stock entirely fail?

These are questions into which it may seem almost
beyond our province to enquire — and yet we may
depend upon it there is a reason, at once simple and
obvious, which would at once account for the failure

THE SUCCESSION OF CROPS. 191

of the old and the success of the new regime: and
if we might venture to hazard an opinion upon the
subject, we should say that it is because some
vital chemical principle of the soil has been exhausted
by the ancient forest: the land is therefore in a com-
paratively barren condition for producing a fresh crop
of the same trees, consequently they either do not
germinate at all, or else are of such weakly growth
that they are quickly choked by the rank grasses and
weeds, and the vigorous undergrowth of bushy shrubs,
which are generally the first crops that spring from
the fallo\v ground of the clearing.

On the other hand some other chemical principle,
which was not necessary to the growth of the ancient
trees, and therefore was not assimilated by them, has
accumulated in the soil for ages, and this, being highly
favourable to the growth of other kinds of trees, their
seed is enabled at once to take root, and oust the former
tenants from their inheritance. Such, we venture to
suggest, is a simple and probable explanation of this
apparent mystery.

The necessity for a proper rotation of crops is a
well-known principle in agriculture, recognised for ages
by all competent farmers and gardeners. " It is a
well-known fact," says Thompson

" that the same kind of crop cannot be successfully grown
on the same ground for several consecutive years. Farmers
know that if land be too frequently cropped with clover, it
becomes what is termed " clover-sick, " and refuses to produce
that crop, till a considerable space of time has elapsed. Var-
ious theories have been formed as to the causes which ren-
der the rotation of crops necessary. De Candolle supposes
that the roots have the power of excreting, or throwing off,

1 92 THE SUCCESSION OF ANIMAL RACES.

substances unnecessary or injurious to the plants to which
they belong. But it has been found that excretion from the
roots only takes place when these are wounded. This theory
has therefore fallen to the ground. The next theory is founded
on the exhaustion of the mineral substances contained in the
soil. It has already been shown that inorganic substances
are essential to the growth of plants, and that without mineral
food plants cannot live. Now it is known that some plants
contain a greater amount of certain mineral substances than
others: for instance some plants require much potash or soda;
others much phosphoric acid; some much lime; others a
large quantity of silica. This being the case, it is evident
that it would be beneficial to cause one crop, requiring only
a small quantity of any particular substance, to succeed
another requiring that substance in a larger amount. Such is
the explanation of the beneficial results attendant on the
rotation of crops." *

Now although, as Mr. Thompson points out, experi-
ments upon this subject are as yet far from conclusive,
it is evident that this theory, if it does not contain the
whole truth, at least it approximates thereto — and that
this is one of the main causes, though it may not be
the only cause, which explains the natural law of the
rotation of crops.

The laws of Nature are as old as time itself, and
like the decrees of the Medes and Persians " unchange-
able, " and the law of the rotation of vegetable growths
applies alike to the grass of the field and to the mon-
arch of the forest. Again we find the same principle
running through the whole economy of created nature,
where change is the universal rule, everywhere unceas-
ingly going on — in the animal, as well as in the vege-

* The Gardener's Assistant, by Robert Thompson, pp. 262—3 (a
standard work on Kitchen Gardening, no date of publication given).

THE PARABLE OF THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT. 193

table world. We are all the servants of Nature,
appointed to do a certain work: and when a race,
whether of plants, of animals, or of men, have served
their time and their purpose, they are dismissed
and must make room for another. Thus the num-
ber of extinct races and forms of life are innumerable
—a few only of the most remarkable being proba-
bly as yet known to man, through the teachings of
history and geology; whilst myriads of others, we
cannot doubt, have passed away, leaving no trace
behind.

The whole history of the world, from the earliest
epochs to the present time, teaches us that races and
types are all slowly changing, and nowhere is this
truth more clearly conveyed to us than in the study
of " The Wilderness and its Tenants," where in our
own time we have seen whole nations and races of
men and of animals disappear.

They had lived to become unsuited to their times.
Peace be to their memory ! The Scriptural parable of
the unprofitable servant may, as we venture to believe,
be interpreted in two ways; one of which represents
exactly the dealings of Nature with the terrestrial
world — whilst the passages here referred to state that
this rule thus established on earth is identical with
that of the Kingdom of Heaven. "A certain noble-
man," we are told, went forth into a far country, leav-
ing his goods to the care of his servants — in one pas-
sage the nature of the property so entrusted is repre-
sented by "talents," * in the other, it is "money." f
" After a long time the lord of these servants cometh,

* Matt. xxv. 14 — 29. y Luke Xix. 12 — 26.

VOL. II. 13

IQ4 THE DECIDUOUS FOREST DISPLACING PINES.

and reckoneth with them," * and found that some had
proved faithful and profitable. Each of these therefore
according to their respective merits, was rewarded and
prospered in various degrees; while those who were
unprofitable and worthless were cast forth, and their
possessions passed into the keeping of others — such
is the invariable law of nature.

Upon the destruction of the primeval forest, the new
growth of trees is not always immediate ; there is fre-
quently an interregnum, during which the ground is
occupied by various forms of herbaceous vegetation,
according to the nature of the soil and locality. The
ground is generally first covered by a luxuriant
herbage of sweet grasses and ferns, which afford a de-
licate pasturage, most attractive to all grass-feeding
animals whose home is in the forest — large numbers
of these quickly discover and resort to these places,
which thus become the favourite sporting grounds of
the hunter in search of game, who should always
endeavour to discover, and make himself acquainted
with, the lie of such localities. It is not long however
before the young trees begin to appear ; and Mr. Rowan,
an old settler, and a careful and intelligent observer
of the forest fauna and flora, thus describes the usual
course of Nature:

" Where a deciduous forest has been cut down or destroyed
by fire, spruce and firs rapidly spring up. Where a pine forest
has been destroyed, blueberries and raspberries grow in
immense profusion, for two or three seasons; then cherry,
white birch, maple and poplar commence to make their
appearance, and shoot up with surprising rapidity ; and soon
a forest of deciduous trees replaces the ancient pine forests,
* Matt. xxv. 19.

NATURAL PRUNING OF FOREST TREES. 195

relics of which may be seen for 20 or 30 years, standing high
over the young trees, with uplifted arms and blanched stems. " *

In a very few years, the young1 forest becomes a
thicket through which it is often difficult to pass, and
it is evident that out of the crowded mass of saplings
but a very small proportion can possibly survive to
form trees.

Here another of the natural laws comes into force,
viz., the law of the "survival of the fittest," nowhere
to be seen to better advantage than in the struggle
for existence among the new growth in a great forest.
Everything that is weakly, stunted, or deformed, must
of necessity perish — the most vigorous, and therefore
the fittest, alone surviving. The lower branches of the
trees of course, being bereft of light and air, always
die, decay, and drop from the trees of their own accord.
Thus Nature does her own pruning, she takes the
nurseling under her own special care and keeping, and
in due course of time lofty trees arise with stems clean
and straight as an arrow; and so the great primeval
forest once more resumes its sway over the land, and
age succeeds to age, during which the giant trees,
whose majestic size and appearance we have we fear
but feebly endeavoured to describe, tower above their
fellows and form the monarchs of the woods until the
next metamorphosis.

Under no aspect, as we humbly believe, does Nature
appear more truly great — far above anything that
human imagination can conceive — than in this, her
marvellous capacity for evolving these vast cycles of
change, automatically succeeding each other through-

K The Emigrant Sportsman in Canada, Experiences of an Old Settler,
by Mr. Rowan, 1876, pp. 270 — 271.

196 NATURE'S POWERS OF ADJUSTMENT.

out the course of ages. When the Creator set the
clock of time in motion, and initiated the reproductive
power of Nature, His work was perfect : that is to say,
it was everlasting, it was self-regulating, self-supporting,
self-perpetuating: both here on earth, and throughout
the realms of space above.

It is on the contrary characteristic of every sort of
human workmanship, that it is of necessity imperfect —
decay and time are constantly at work upon it from
the first moment of its construction; and unless con-
stantly repaired and kept in order, it wears out, ceases
to perform its functions and perishes. When therefore
the Creator is represented as perpetually interfering
with the course of Nature by ordering every trifling
event through special interpositions of Providence: it
has always seemed to us that this idea was founded
upon a total misapprehension of the greatness and
grandeur of His work, which was thus unconsciously
robbed of half its glory. The works of man it is
true, must be kept in repair, by a process of continual
tinkering and supervision.

But the Divine work needs no such tinkering — no
readjustments, no reparations. It is characteristic of
its transcendent majesty and grandeur that it alone
was in the beginning so perfectly adjusted once for all
that thenceforth it continued to operate smoothly, effi-
ciently, and for ever.

Among others Mr. Wallace, a careful observer of the
various phenomena of Nature, was evidently strongly
impressed with the same conviction, for he says, in
words that cannot be too often repeated :

"I believe that the Universe is so constituted as to be
self-regulating :— that as long as it contains life the forms

AMERICAN AUTUMN TINTS 197

under which that life is manifested have an inherent power
of adjustment to each other, and to surrounding Nature ; and
that this adjustment necessarily leads to the greatest amount
of variety, beauty, and enjoyment, because it does depend
on general laws, and not on a continual supervision, and re-
arrangement of details. — As a matter of feeling and religion,
I hold this to be a far higher conception of the Creation and
of the Universe than what may be called 'the continual
interference hypothesis ' " *

and again he observes:

" Why should we measure the creative mind by our own ?
or why should we suppose the machine too complicated to
have been designed by the Creator so complete, that it would
necessarily work out its own harmonious results? — The theory
of 'continual interference' is a limitation of the Creator's
power." f

We have ventured to call attention to this matter
here, because we conceive that in the great rotations
of the primeval forest we have one of the clearest
examples of this self-adjusting power of Nature which
is continually taking place under our own eye and
observation — if we exercise it.

In the pine woods the appearance of the forest is
of course much the same at all seasons, the trees be-
ing evergreen; but in the deciduous woods the varia-
tions of foliage are often most beautiful, both in spring
and autumn, but especially during the latter season ; in
America, for instance, the fall of the leaf often ex-
hibits a display of autumn tints whose colourings are
frequently gorgeous beyond description; and we have

* Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, by Alfred R.
Wallace, p. 268.
f Ibid., p. 280.

ig8 THE FALL OF THE LEAF.

remarked, that it is specially so wherever the frosts of
winter are severe ; thus in Norway, Sweden, and Rus-
sia similar effects are produced upon the advent of
the first frosts, and generally so all over the colder
portions of the temperate "zones. The colours are of
all shades of reds, yellows, and browns, from dark
crimson, bright golds, and russet browns to an infinite
variety of more delicate shadings, of whose richness
and beauty we can form no idea in the British Islands,
though our autumn tints are often very fine also. But
the Canadian and other North American fall tints are
infinitely more brilliant, and justify the observations
of a well-known American sporting writer, who remarks
of them: —

" It is true, we know ourselves to be looking on, as it were,
a hectic loveliness, which like the glow on the cheek of con-
sumptive beauty, is the precursor of decay and death. Still
so exquisite is that beauty, so delicious the temperature, the
atmosphere, and the aspect of the skies; so gorgeous the
hues of the forest, mantled mountain, and woodland, that to
me the promise of spring, and the fulness of summer, are
both inferior to the serene and calm decline of the woodland
year, which seems to me to resemble rather the tranquil and
gentle close of a well-spent life, enriched by the hopes of
glories to shine forth after the winter of the grave, than the
termination of an existence to be dreaded or deplored." *

The American writer whose words we have just
quoted here likens the fall of the leaf to the close of
existence, but for ourselves we prefer rather to regard
it as the advent of that natural slumber which is as
needful for the tree and for the plant, as for animals

* Frank Forester's American Field Sports, by Henry Wm. Herbert,
1852, Vol. i., p. 264.

CHANGES OF THE LEAF IN TROPICAL LANDS. 199

or for men — and the casting off of the foliage will
thus represent the putting off the garments of the day
preparatory to taking that rest which night was
intended by Nature to bring, with some exceptions, to
all animated nature.

Of the sleep of plants we have spoken elsewhere,
and hibernation or winter sleep, which as we know is
sometimes found to occur in animals as well as in
plants, is merely another, though much more prolonged
form of sleep, during which the vital energies of deci-
duous vegetation are in a state of rest, preparatory
for the great awakening of Nature's functions which
occurs upon the advent of spring. This period of rest
is, as we believe, both necessary and common to
vegetation of every description and locality, though to
outward appearance such may not always be evident ;
the casting oif of foliage in like manner is common
to all sorts of trees and plants, though as in the case
of pines, and other evergreens, it is effected so gradu-
ally that it is the dead pine needles that cover the
ground beneath these trees which alone convince the
ordinary observer that the foliage falls at all. So, in
the great equatorial forests, the same phenomena
occur ; leaves are continually throughout the year, both
falling and sprouting, and there can be no doubt that
a period of rest takes place there also, though the
exact nature of it may not be apparent, nor well
understood. In tropical countries however, as we have
before pointed out, it is a well ascertained fact that
the rest of plants is often produced by intense solar
heat, very much in the same way as it is produced
in temperate regions by cold; leaves fall, and
growth is arrested, exactly as it is by winter — and

200 THE VINE UNDER TROPICAL HEAT.

the return of spring is there represented by the exu-
berant growth produced by the advent of the rainy
season. In our next, or polar section, we hope to be
able to cite numerous remarkable instances of the
similarity of effects produced by the apparently oppo-
site functions of great heat and great cold.

In connection with this question of the winter rest
of plants, we may state that when trees or plants are
introduced into the tropics from temperate regions, it
is found that their constitution suffers severely from
the loss of this period of repose, and if they do not
actually die, they dwindle and refuse any longer to
ripen their fruits. This was observed in the case of
peaches, cherries, and other European fruit trees, in-
troduced into Ceylon — they grew freely, but became
evergreen, and then, as if exhausted by perennial excite-
ment, ceased to produce. A similar failure followed
the introduction of the vine into the gardens of Jaffna —
here, however, a most interesting experiment was made
to test the possibility of obtaining a season of rest by
the agency of heat, instead of cold, and it succeeded
perfectly.

Sir J. Emerson Tennent informs us that: —

" Mr. • Dyke, the government agent in whose garden they
grow, conceiving that the activity of the plants might be
equally checked by exposing them to an extreme of warmth
as by subjecting them to cold, tried with perfect success the
experiment of laying bare the roots in the strongest heat of
the sun. The circulation of the sap was thus arrested, the
vines obtained the needful repose, and the grapes which
before had fallen almost unformed from the tree, are now
brought to thorough maturity, though inferior in flavour to
those produced at home." *

* Ceylon, by Sir James Emerson Tennent, 1859. Vol. i, Ch. 3, p. 89.

THE AMERICAN FOREST INDIAN TRIBES. 2OI

Similar results followed experiments made by Mr.
Ballard of Bombay, to give the vine an artificial winter
there, by exposing the roots of vines to the sun during
the hot season. * The vine, however, as we know, is
a plant capable of enduring almost any amount of
heat, and so long as there is a dry season during
which its roots can be exposed to intense drought,
that seems to act upon it almost as effectually as if it
were exposed to frost — the foliage falls and an arti-
ficial winter's rest is obtained, and thus it has been
found to do fairly well in some of the oases of the
Sahara, where these conditions are realized.

The object of the digression is to establish the point
upon which we have insisted: namely, that the appar-
ently opposite phenomena of heat and cold often pro-
duce very similar effects ; and the results of the above
experiments furnish us with a striking illustration of
the fact, so that it will be unnecessary to dwell further
upon it at present.

We have now passed in review all the leading
phenomena of the great forest region of the temperate
zone, and we shall endeavour to give a short account
of man as an inhabitant of the forest, principally in
connection with the red Indian tribes which formerly
had their home in the North American forests.

Subsequent to the discovery of America the red
Indians of the eastern forest region were necessarily
the first tribes that came into intercourse with European
adventurers, and at the time when the early expedi-
tions were sent forth from England, France, and Spain,
these peoples were found existing in large numbers

* See The Transactions of the Agricultural and Horticultural
Society of India, Calcutta, 1850. Vol. i, p. 96.

202 THE SPANIARDS AND WEST INDIAN ABORIGINES.

almost everywhere upon the Atlantic seaboard, as well
as upon that of the Gulf of Mexico : and we believe
that there are ample grounds for asserting that the
first meeting of the whites with the Indians was of a
friendly character — that is to say, that upon their first
landing the strangers were almost invariably received
by these children of Nature with hospitality and kind-
ness; the best of everything that they possessed, in
the way of food and articles of barter, being set before
them. But as usual when the savage and the civilized
man have met, it was not long before quarrels and
hostilities arose, caused, as it is said, by the aggressive
attitude assumed by the whites; and we feel bound
to say that the evidence goes to show that the Spaniards
were the greatest sinners in this respect ; and that more
than either the English or the French, their cruel and
tyrannical conduct first laid the seeds of that antipathy
of race which has never ceased to operate, with such
disastrous results, up to the present time.

It is another melancholy feature in this case that
the original policy given out to the world as the
object of Spanish diplomacy, was the conversion of the
heathen to the Christian religion. How this pious intention
was carried out, let the history of the West Indies,
and other places, tell ! — Here especially, it is admitted
by the Spanish historians themselves that the primitive
races who were found inhabiting Cuba, San Domingo,
and other islands, were a peculiarly mild and inoffen-
sive set of beings: yet in the course of a comparatively
few years, such were the extraordinary barbarities that
were practised upon them, that the whole of these
people, after being reduced to complete slavery, became
extinct. In Mexico and Central America however, the

THE FRENCH AND THE CANADIAN INDIANS. 203

natives were made of sterner stuff, and sanguinary
battles were frequent.

Now in the case of the French in Canada, we feel
bound to say that a generally humane and generous
policy actuated their governors; and though there were
wars and fightings, these things could not be helped,
and were the natural results which follow- all occupations
of wild countries by Europeans, when they have to
govern savage races; in this case also, great stir was
made about "the conversion of the heathen" and so
forth, and the country was inundated by monks and
nuns of the different religious orders, who quarrelled
fiercely among themselves for the love of God, and did
their little best to render all other more practical govern-
ment impossible — in fact a species of dual government
existed, represented by the civil power on one side,
and the ecclesiastical on the other: and between them,
such a mess was made of the whole business that in
many cases the colonists themselves were by no means
sorry when the Naval and Military power of England
compelled the surrender of the French forces, and so
in 1761 completed the conquest of Canada.

Now in their dealings with the Indians the British
were more practical ; in their schemes of conquest there
was less affectation of religious motives; just as they
are doing now in Africa they desired simply to obtain
new markets for their commerce, and to pre-empt waste
lands upon which their superabundant population could
settle. Our fathers had sense enough to see that the
preposterous idea of combining conquest with mis-
sionary enterprise was bound to fail : for surely to come
to a country, land in force upon its shores, erect forts,
and seize upon its fairest provinces, is one of the least

204 THE INDIAN POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

likely of all methods for inducing the conquered races
to embrace a new religion, that can well be imagined.
The policy of " Bibles and Bullets " is one of doubtful
success everywhere. The subjugated people naturally
regard the proud invader with fearsome and distrustful
eyes, and are not at all likely at his dictation to cast
away the prejudices and superstitions of their race, in
favour of the new learning; it is only as time goes on,
when the bitterness of defeat and the social hatreds of
the past are forgotten, and when the natives realize
that they can live in greater peace and quietness under
the new regime than under the old, and can enjoy
their acquired property in security, that a foundation
is laid for that great universal missionary " the school-
master " to commence operations.

That is the policy of the British government in
India: first to ensure order and respect for the rights
of property, and leave opinions afterwards to settle
themselves, with liberty of conscience to all.

We shall not weary our readers with long descrip-
tions of American Indian life and history: these sub-
jects have already been made the object of many portly
volumes; we shall therefore confine our remarks upon
this subject to a sketch of the red man as a dweller
in the forest and the wilderness, in his capacity as a
hunter and a warrior.

In the days of our childhood we can well remember
the picturesque appearance of a band of these plumed
and painted warriors who were brought over to London
from the neighbourhood of the great lakes of Canada,
to exhibit before a European audience their war
dances, and songs of victory over the fallen enemy,
whose scalps were exhibited hanging in a dried state

FENIMORE COOPER'S " LAST OF THE MOHICANS." 205

from their head dresses ; and a brave show these noble
looking savages made, clad in all the panoply of paint
and feathers, with their tomahawks and scalping knives,
and war whoops.

In those days Fenimore Cooper's novels were eagerly
read by every boy ; and though these books must of
course be regarded simply as romances, still in many
respects they gave a very good, and often faithful
account of the war tactics and habits of these ruthless
savages, who by the time the British power was well
established in America, had become the hereditary
foes of all white men. The friendly Indians were
simply those who, having received the only thing they
understand or respect, namely a stern lesson of the
power of England to compel them to respect the persons
and property of the whites, now posed as " the children "
of the great white chief: the settlers thus became their
" white brothers. "

Nearly all the leading incidents of the story told in
each of Fenimore Cooper's novels, we may here remark,
are founded upon historical fact, and most of the chiefs
and Indian braves, whose exploits are recounted, are
also drawn from real life — so is the character of his white
hero " Leatherstocking, " the forest ranger, and trapper.

We can have no doubt that this latter character is
founded upon the history of Daniel Boone of Kentucky, *
a celebrated Indian fighter and frontiersman who lived
and flourished about i oo years ago — " Nathaniel Bumpo"f
is in fact, an evident adaptation from the name of

* Born in Pennyslvania in 1734 — died in 1820, aged 86; spent nearly
all his life as a hunter and Indian fighter. Was the first white settler
in Kentucky, which State he founded in 1754, the first band of white
settlers being brought out there under his guidance.

f The name given by Cooper to the scout "Leatherstocking."

206 THE STORY OF CORA.

Boone, used by Cooper for that of his principal hero.

Those of our readers who have read " The Last of
the Mohicans " (which is generally accounted the best
of Cooper's tales of the frontier), will doubtless at once
recognize it. Now the Mohicans, an Indian tribe long
since extinct, were a warlike and at one time a very
troublesome people, who in former days inhabited a
great part of the State of Connecticut and portions of
the State of New York. The story of Colonel Munro,
and his daughters Alice and Cora, are also adap-
tations from real life, the former being a Scotch officer
in the service of George II., and who was the British
Commander of Fort William Henry, in the State of New
York, during the siege and sacking of that post by
the French under Montcalm in 1757 — and we have no
doubt that the materials for the story of the girls are
drawn from the historical accounts of the adventures
which befell Jemima, the daughter of Daniel Boone,
and two other girls, Betsy and Fanny Callaway, who
were captured and carried off by Indians, on July 14,
1776, from Boonesborough in Kentucky, much as de-
scribed in the pages of this novel. The Indians Saga-
more, Chingatchcook, Uncas, * and Le Renard Subtile,
are also all taken in the same way from real life,
and were all celebrated Indian chiefs, who in their
day were prominent warriors of various forest tribes.

It may be interesting to give a short retrospect of
the Story of Cora, one of the heroines of "The Last of
the Mohicans." Details which have come under our

* A Mohican Chief — and a friend of the white man, who died about
1686 and was buried near Norwich (Conn.), where a monument was
erected to his memory by the Americans in 1842. (See Brit. Musm.
Discourse delivered by Wm. Leete Stone, on the occasion of unveiling
the monument, July 4th 1842, publ. at New York 1842, I2mo).

PURSUIT OF THE REDSKINS BY THE RANGERS. 207

notice in the course of our researches leave no doubt
upon our mind that the character is drawn from that of
Betsy Callaway, who was carried off from Boonesborough,
as already mentioned, by a band of painted savages.
She and the two other girls were, it seems, out in a
canoe on the south Fork of the Kentucky river, at the
time when they were surprised by an Indian war party,
by whom they were at once carried off into the forest.
These wily savages, foreseeing the probability of pur-
suit, according to their usual practice in such cases,
compelled their unhappy captives to travel almost
night and day, until they thought themselves beyond
the reach of being overtaken, with the idea, no doubt,
of holding these young women as hostages and as the
wives of some of the tribe until they were ransomed
by their friends; for the Indians were by that time
fully alive to the commercial value of white captives,
for whose ransom they were often able to extort large
quantities of valuable trade goods of the kinds most
useful to themselves, such as blankets, iron pots, ket-
tles, hatchets, knives, fishing tackle, tobacco, and ver-
million for painting their faces, etc., and even supplies
of guns and ammunition. Well, the abduction of the
girls was seen and reported to Boone almost immedi-
ately after its occurrence ; and he at once set to work
to organize a rescue party. Seven men quickly volun-
teered to act under Boone's orders, among whom
were the lovers of the three girls. These hardy
frontiersmen after following the trail of the captives
for two nights and a day, came up with the savages,
whom they completely surprised, and rushing in
suddenly upon them, they scattered or slew the whole
party before they could make any effective resistance

208 CORA MARKING THE TRAIL.

or destroy their captives, with whom they returned in
triumph to the Fort. It seems that the two younger
girls had given themselves up for lost, but Betsy
Callaway kept up her courage, continually telling the
others she was sure they would be followed and rescued,
and in order to mark the line of their flight, every
now and again she broke off twigs from the bushes.
This did not escape the keen eyes of her captors, who
threatened her with the tomahawk if she was seen
again to repeat the experiment ; and they at once en-
deavoured to erase the trail thus given, by bending down,
or breaking the branches, so as to make it look like the
work of browsing deer ; they also thenceforth compelled
the girls to walk apart in the dense brushwood, and to
walk along the beds of streams, where no tell-tale foot-
steps would be left to show where they had passed ; but
Betsy still managed to tear off strips from her dress and
drop them unnoticed by her guards. Meanwhile the
avenging whites who were following swiftly upon
the trail, faithfully interpreted all these "signs of
the wilderness." They saw the broken twigs; they
detected the attempted imposition of the Indian
artifice to make it look as if done by deer; they
deciphered the footsteps on the ground; and no
doubt found and identified the bits of torn dress.
Fortunately in such cases, it is impossible for a man
to pass without leaving some mark ; his footmarks will
leave their imprint in soft places, or upon dead leaves ;
and the place where they enter the streams will be
marked in the same way: so will the points of exit;
a clever scout like Daniel Boone would read these
things as plainly as if they were printed handbills
attached to the trees; and his knowledge of the tribe

FOREST RANGERS FOLLOWING THE TRAIL. 2 09

whose war party they were following would reveal
to him the general direction they would be sure to
follow to regain the villages of their nation; also the
tribe they belonged to would be disclosed by certain
little signs known to experienced scouts, such as the
peculiar markings of their foot-gear * (as shown in the
footprints), their particular mode of marching, and
numerous other points, which their intimate knowledge
of Indians would make them aware of; then the fact
of dividing the party would make it easier to form an
almost exact estimate of the number of warriors it
contained ; their footmarks on the different trails would
be certain to ahow this. Though Indian war parties
generally endeavour to conceal these details by walking
in Indian file and causing each man carefully planting
his feet in the footmarks of the man in front. We may be
sure all these things, and more, were duly noted by this
experienced scout and his white companions, long before
the critical moment came when they would suddenly
jump upon, and destroy the sleeping Indian war party (we
can see it all nearly as clearly as if we had been
there in person), for even Indians must rest: moreover,
the girls would not be able to stand the strain, and
their strength would become exhausted; that would
force the Indians either to kill them, or else carry
them; if they did the first, the valuable captive was
lost and with her the amount of her ransom ; we may
be pretty sure therefore, that rude litters were con-

* Almost every Indian tribe, even to this day, has its own peculiar
pattern for moccassins, snow-shoes, and other articles of daily wear.
So again, their huts, method of making fires, camping, etc., all have
their peculiar form so that it was easy for a skilled woodsman to
recognise the particular tribe they represented. We could cite numerous
instances of this, did time and space permit.

VOL II. 14

210 RESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES.

structed upon which the exhausted captives were borne
along in the way that it was usual for Indians to carry
off wounded men belonging to their tribe; but the
cutting of the sticks and work of manufacturing
these things could not be done without leaving a mark :
the Indians could not stop to erase every mark made,
because if they did, it would delay the march too
long; moreover, the marks of erasure would still
be visible, and in either case the pursuers would at
once see what had been done, and know that the
girls' lives would be safe, as long as the pursuit re-
mained undetected. It was by no means an unknown
thing in the Indian country for pursuits of this kind
to be kept up even for weeks, over hundreds of miles
of country, and for the rescue to be triumphantly
effected after all.

In this case, as it seems, the pursuit was sharp and
brief, and the rescue nobly and ably effected. Fin-
ally the story ends in the usual way, the three lovers
and rescuers duly marry their respective sweethearts:
Samuel Henderson married Betsy Callaway, John
Holder married Fanny Callaway, and Flanders Calla-
way (no doubt a brother of theirs) married Jemima
Boone; and let us hope they all lived happily ever
afterwards, as true lovers are always supposed to do.

As regards the ability of these frontier scouts, and
of the British officer in the conduct of wars with
savages of different kinds, a French general has (per-
haps unconsciously) paid our countrymen a high com-
pliment; for in a recent military work, of considerable
authority which he has published, we find that all the
instances quoted, as to the best methods of fighting
savages, are exclusively drawn from British experi-

BRITISH AND AMERICAN POLICIES CONTRASTED. 2 I I

ences, thus showing that the French, in this respect at
least, admit the superior tactical knowledge of the
British over any other nation. * Then again, hear
the evidence of an American bishop, speaking upon
the respective merits of the British and American
systems of dealing with the red Indians:

" On one side of the line (i.e., the British and American
boundary line, Lat. 49° N.) is a nation" (the Americans, as
they call themselves) " that has spent 500 millions of dollars
in Indian wars. A people who have not 100 miles between
the Atlantic and the Pacific which has not been the scene
of an Indian massacre — a government that has not passed
20 years without an Indian war, and which celebrates its
centenary (1876) by another bloody Indian war. On the
other side of the line are the same dominant Anglo-Saxon
race (the British) and the same heathen. They have not
spent one dollar in Indian wars, and have had no Indian
massacres." f

The Right Reverend prelate does us too much
honour; but it is not our place, in these pages, to
enter into matters of historical controversy; we could
not therefore think of being so rude as to contradict
him. Moreover the conspicuous success with which
the British have managed their Indian wars throughout
their North American possessions is notorious, and it is
worth noting that the official recognition of the Native
Tribes in our public documents is always as " The Indian
Subjects of Her Majesty," and by no means as indi-

* See " Strategic et grande tactique des derniers guerres, par le
General Pierron, 2 Vols 8vo, Paris, 1887. — Travaux et fortifications
tontre les tribtis sauvages, Vol. i., pp. 313 to 322.

| Extract from a letter addressed in 1876 to the President of the
United States by Bishop H. B. Whipple of Minnesota — quoted in the
Introduction (by Mr. William Blackmore) to The fainting Grounds of
the Great West, by Colonel Richd. S. Dodge, U.S.A., pp. xlii
and xliii.

212 " KING GEORGE'S MEN. "

gent mendicants, who form a burden upon the State.
Even among the Indians on Bishop Whipple's side of
the line, it used to be a good plan for Englishmen to
let the U.S. Indians know, when they met them,
who and what they are : they should make themselves
known as "a King George's man," and they will not
be the less well received in consequence. " King
George " of England, * is a name still held in rever-
ence and regard amongst the whole of the Indian
tribes near the British frontier, and indeed throughout
America (though it may please some English radicals
of the present day to speak slightingly of the kings of
that name) ; forgetful that the foundations of the Brit-
ish Empire were firmly laid in those reigns under the
stress of wars and difficulties of which the modern
Briton can scarcely form an idea.

What we now enjoy in comparative peace and quiet-
ness, our forefathers fought and paid for, both in blood
and treasure: yet we hear it continually thrown
up to us that in those days taxes were high, and the
laws draconic, and so forth; if they were, they were
higher and severer elsewhere, while the invaders' troops
marched from time to time over the soil of every
European country, our own alone excepted; to King
George and his advisers we owe our immunity from
invasion, and much of our subsequent greatness. These
things ought never to be forgotten when we speak of
the sovereigns of the House of Hanover.

But to return to the subject of the forest Indians;

* The name of King George III. appears on the medals still treasured
by the Indian tribes, which they produce with great ceremony when a
" King George's man " is presented to them. We have seen numbers
of them. They are large pieces quite the size of a crown-piece with
a swivel attached by which they can be suspended round the neck.

INDIAN FOREST PATHS. 213

even more than their brethren of the plains, they were
adepts in all the arts of Indian surprise and other
war crafts. When a party of Indians on the war path
passed through the forest it was generally by a regular
beaten trail, such as existed here and there throughout
almost every considerable district of the American
backwoods from times of unknown antiquity. These
trails were generally made use of by all travelling
parties of Indians, whether out as a hunting or a
war party, at all events until the neighbourhood of
enemies was known to be not far distant. They were
exceedingly narrow paths, as a rule not more than nine
inches or a foot in width at the ground, and these
forest warriors always marched in single, or Indian
file, one behind the other, carefully stepping as much
as possible in each other's footsteps. In this way the
number of the party was more or less concealed; to
ascertain the strength of a party, it was necessary to
find where they had camped, it was then possible to
compute to a considerable nicety of how many persons
it was composed, and whether they were merely a
hunting party, or out upon the war path.

In marching the Indians (so far as our experience
of modern specimens of the race may go), generally
walked differently to a white man, the toe being turned
inwards, instead of outwards, as in the latter case.
This gave a peculiar character to a man's trail, and
though both the red man and the white often wore
moccassins, this difference still generally gave a clue
as to the colour of the traveller's skin.

These forest paths made by the Indians were always
travelled over sufficiently to keep them open, and were
distinctly traceable along the ground; they led from

214 INDIAN AMBUSHES.

most of the important points in the forest, as for in-
stance from village to village, and indicated the way
to springs, to fords upon rivers, or the best line of
portage for goods, round rapids or across a divide, from
one lake or river to the next. Some of these trails,
we understand, are even now traceable in the oldest
settled portions of the country, where the woods have
not yet been wholly cleared. Parts of that which was
used by the whites, 250 years ago, between Plymouth
and Boston, for example, is still clearly discernible. *
Almost similar paths conduct the traveller, we may
here observe, through nearly every part of Africa ;
and African caravans from time immemorial have
adopted the Indian file system of single individuals
following each other, as the order of their march, even
when crossing wide and level plains. So in Hindustan ;
native paths lead through the forest and jungle, and
through the defiles of the hill country, almost through-
out the entire length and breadth of India. In the
early days of American settlements it was in the dense
bush at the edge of these paths that parties of ambushed
savages laid in wait for their prey, and many an
unfortunate white has been suddenly " jumped " by the
Indians, when he thought danger and death far removed
from him. The first intimation of the disaster that
reached his friends, was generally the fact of his body
being found scalped, and frightfully mutilated, along
the side of one of these paths ; in this respect forest
Indians have always proved far more dangerous and
difficult to deal with than the plains Indians. The
densest forest was to them at once a home and a

* See Narrative and Critical History of America, Edited by Justin
Winsor, Librarian of Harvard University, 1889, Vol. i., p. 294.

INDIAN RAIDS ON WHITE SETTLERS. 215

fortress. Nothing passed unnoticed by their keen eyes,
as they moved through its shadows; and an Indian
could no more get lost in its trackless depths than a
Londoner could in his maze of streets; while to the
whites the forest was one vast ambush from which at
any moment Indian war parties were liable to issue
forth to attack and destroy.

There was usually no " declaration of war, " but
Indian raids were very generally heralded by the com-
mission of isolated outrages upon single individuals,
and a marked increase in the arrogant demeanour
among the neighbouring tribes. In dealings with
Orientals and other native races these symptoms are,
as we have already remarked, the almost certain
indication of serious impending trouble, which if not
at once met with firmness, and a display offeree, the
next thing generally is a tribal war — and in America
this usually meant a descent by large bodies of Indians
upon the scattered settlements, which were ravaged with
fire and the tomahawk. Such raids generally came as
a " bolt out of the blue, " Mr. Roosevelt gives a good
description of one of these scenes:

" Without warning, and unseen until the moment they dealt
the death stroke, they emerged from their forest fastnesses ;
the horror caused being heightened no less by the mystery
that shrouded them, than by the dreadful nature of their ravages.
Wrapped in the mantle of the unknown; appalling by their
craft, their ferocity, and cruelty, they seemed to the white
settlers, devils, not men. No one could say with certainty
whence they came, nor of what tribe they were; and when
they had finished their dreadful work they retired into the
wilderness, that closed over their trail as the waves of the
ocean close in the wrake of a ship." *

* The Winning of the West, by Theodore Roosevelt, 1889, Vol. i, p. 82.

2l6 INDIAN BOWS AND ARROWS.

In passing" along trails leading through the woods
from village to village, or as it got dusk, in camps or
even close to the settlements, the almost noiseless
"whiz" of an arrow, might at any moment during
disturbed times be the only warning accompanying the
infliction of a perhaps mortal wound dealt by an
unseen hand. In the early days of colonial settlement,
the bow and arrow was of course the only weapon
employed by the Indians, many of whom were exceedingly
skilful archers. It is said, though we ourselves believe
it to be an exaggeration, that in the old buffalo
hunting days, an Indian has been known to drive an
arrow right through this immense animal, and out on
the other side. There were two distinct kinds of arrows
in use by the Indians, one intended for hunting pur-
poses, and the other for war: that for hunting was
generally plain and unbarbed, and firmly fixed in its
shaft; while that for use in war is barbed like a fish
hook, so that once in, it cannot be extracted without
a serious surgical operation ; the head is also but lightly
attached to the shaft, so that if an attempt is made to
withdraw it, it comes off and remains in the wound.
These arrows therefore, as may be supposed, produce
deep incised wounds of a very serious, and even
deadly character. When the arrow inflicted mere flesh
wounds of the external surface, or of the extremities,
the method of extraction in general use among the
Indians was to push it entirely through the limb; the
head was then cut off, and the shaft thus became easily
withdrawn by the way it entered.

Such were the difficulties and dangers with which
our first colonists in America were constantly threatened :
they were of a character to try men's courage to the

PIONEER FOREST RANGERS. 217

utmost, and required a person to be of iron nerve to
live unmoved in the midst of them. For a man never
could tell, when he went out for the day, whether he
would return home at night in safety; nor could he
be certain that on his return he might not find his log
cabin a heap of ashes and his wife and children mutil-
ated corpses. It therefore became quite a common
thing to drink to the safety of a man's scalp upon the
frontier, and the usual form of toast was, " The hair
on your head; and long may it wave there " — in allusion
of course to the possibility of its being any day " lifted."
Nevertheless there were not wanting plenty of daring
spirits who preferred the frontier to more settled dis-
tricts, in spite of the chances of sudden death, and
also those of being carried off and put to death by
the slow ordeal of torture, which followed almost as a
matter of course upon capture when the Indians were
excited by losses of members of their tribe in action,
or any other uncommon event. Some of these men
lived in the depths of the wilderness, several days'
march in advance of the regular recognised frontier,
and thus lived all their days with their lives in their
hands; of these daring pioneers of course the majority
in the end met their deaths at the hands of the Indians.
Few indeed lived to die in their beds at their natural term
of existence: yet some few successfully combatted all
dangers, and passed their days in almost continual
warfare. One of these was the celebrated Daniel Boone
of whom we have already spoken. He was a tall, spare,
sinewy man, with eyes like an eagle's, and muscles that
never tired; and he lived, as we have said, for 86 years,
a hunter and Indian fighter to the end of his days, and
died in his bed surrounded by friends and family after all.

2l8 INDIAN ADOPTION OF WHITE CAPTIVES.

As for the Indians themselves, they were deeply
and unalterably attached to their wild life in the woods,
and were generally, notwithstanding intertribal wars
and other troubles, a very happy and contented people.
They lived almost wholly upon the proceeds of the
chase ; but at times the squaws sowed small crops of
beans and maize where open spaces were to be found :
fishing in the lakes and streams was also very gener-
ally carried on. So far as we can learn, there is not
a single instance on record of one of them leaving
his nomadic form of existence, and adopting the life
of the white settlers of his own accord. But the
instances of whites who have become Indians are too
numerous to mention — they might be counted lit-
erally by thousands. A practice also gradually grew
up among the Indians of adopting white captives,
both male and female, as members of their tribe, to
make up losses which had been incurred in battle.

At first there can be no doubt the captives usually
had a bad time of it, and their lives as it were hung
by a thread. But when the first frantic outburst of
fury which followed a battle was over, and the
slaughter of a sufficient hecatomb of victims to atone
for the Indian losses had glutted their thirst for
vengeance, the Indians usually spared the remaining
captives, who were generally mostly women and chil-
dren; and the survivors were at first treated as serv-
ants, or even as slaves. But by degrees, as a better
feeling prevailed, they were regularly adopted as
members of the tribe. From thenceforth they could
live in safety, and were rarely or never molested in
any way, the only bar placed upon their complete
liberty being such precautions as were deemed neces-

WHITE INDIAN CHIEFS. 219

sary to prevent their escape back to the settlements.
But the great distance to which they were generally
carried off to prevent the likelihood of pursuit or re-
capture was generally in itself sufficient to render
escape out of the question: for several hundred miles
of a wilderness of almost impassable forest was often
placed between them and the homes of their fathers.

We may mention a few notable instances of this
adoption of strangers into the tribes, to illustrate
what we have said above — for independently of the
adoption of numbers of captives in the manner described,
it became the practice of many of the tribes to elect
certain whites (who had done a good turn to the Indians,
and who had treated them with friendliness and consider-
ation, and in whose honour the Indians believed they
could trust) as political or war chiefs of the clan.
One of the most notable of these was Sir William
Johnson, who was elected paramount chief of the Mo-
hawks in 1746; another was Dr. Cadwallader Golden,
Surveyor General, and afterwards Lieutenant Governor
of the colony of New York, who was also adopted by
the Mohawk tribe. Then there was one of the Dukes
of Northumberland, who served as Lord Percy in the
American revolutionary war, who was created chief
of " The Six Nations. " Washington Irving was also
adopted a member of the Huron nation, and the
late General Porter, U.S.A., was long a chief of the
Senecas. *

In the case of adopted white captives therefore, from
the moment of their adoption into the tribal community
they were treated with every degree of friendly con-

* The Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson, by W. L. Stone, publd.
at Albany, 1865, Vol. i, p. 541. (Appendix No. i).

220 INDIANS DELIVER UP WHITE CAPTIVES.

sideration, and they would be in no way worse off
than any other inhabitant of the Indian village, what-
ever the colour of his skin. That being" so many of
these unhappy people thus in time became not only
reconciled to their lot, but deeply attached to their
red comrades.

A memorable instance where this was clearly proved,
occurred after the relief of Fort Pitt by General Bou-
quet, which was closely besieged by several Indian tribes
in 1763. This able officer, * who was of Swiss extrac-
tion, followed up his success the following season by a
demand for the delivery of all white captives, young
or old, living among the Indians either as prisoners
or as adopted members of the tribes. This occurred in
October, 1764, and he gave them twelve days to hand
them over to him at Fort Pitt. Every effort was made by
the Indians to evade the latter part of these conditions,
but Bouquet was resolute and enforced his demand as
the first condition of a truce. The compliance with
it in many cases led to incidents of a touching and
highly dramatic character. Some of these people came
to Bouquet's camp with full as much reluctance as that
which was felt by the Indians who gave them up.
Indeed several of them could only be secured by being
bound and guarded, f Many others clung to their

* General Henry Bouquet, born in the Canton of Berne. Switzerland,
1719, was in the Dutch service, and afterwards entered the British service
in America. He was sent to relieve Fort Pitt (formerly Fort Duquesne)
1763, and so completely defeated the Indians (Aug. 5) that they aban-
doned the blockade. In 1764 he reduced the Indian tribes on the Ohio
to submission — and 1765 died of yellow fever, at Pensacola, Florida.

f See Narrative and Critical History of America, by Justin Winsor,
Librarian of Harvard University, 1889, Vol. i, pp. 290 and 292. —
Also The History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman,
1885, Vol. ii., p. 238.

INDIAN AFFECTION FOR WHITE COMRADES. 221

Indian friends at the last, with bitter tears and manifest-
ations of heartfelt grief on both sides; they positively
refused to return to the settlements or to acknowledge
their nearest kin, some of whom stood by endeavouring
to regain their affections by every means in their
power, until finally they had to be separated from their red
companions by force. In the cases of children, who
retained but a faint remembrance of home, these cases
were very numerous, and the little creatures abundantly
testified by their shrieks and struggles their unwillingness
to part with their Indian foster-parents.

We think a description of this scene, given by an
eye-witness, is quite worthy of being reproduced in
confirmation of this remarkable historical incident :

" And here " (he says) " I enter on a scene which language
can but weakly describe. I mean the arrival of the prisoners
in camp, where were to be seen fathers and mothers recognizing
and clasping their long lost babes: husbands hanging round
the necks of newly recovered wives," etc., etc. "The Indians
too, as if wholly forgetting their usual savageness, bore a capital
part in heightening this most affecting scene. They delivered up
their beloved captives with the utmost reluctance, shed torrents
of tears over them, recommending them to the care and protec-
tion of the commanding officer. Their regard continued all the
time they remained in camp. They visited them from day to
day, and brought corn, skins, and horses, and other presents
with all the marks of the most sincere and tender affection.
When the army marched, they obtained leave to accompany
them, and employed themselves in hunting for them on the
road. A young Mingo carried this still further, and gave an
instance of his love which would make a figure, even in ro-
mance. A young woman of Virginia was among the cap-
tives, whom he called his wife; and against all remonstrances
of the imminent danger to which he exposed himself by ap-

222 FRENCH COUREURS DES BOIS.

pearing on the frontier he persisted in following her. Even
some grown persons (among the captives) showed an unwil-
lingness to return. The Shawanes were obliged to bind sev-
eral of their prisoners to force them along to camp, and
some women who had been delivered up, afterwards found
means to escape and run back to the Indian town. Some
who could not escape, clung to their savage acquaintances at
parting, and continued many days in bitter lamentations, even
refusing sustenance." *

This shows beyond the possibility of mistake that
the Indians were by no means destitute of the finer
feelings of humanity, and were possessed in very strong
degree of sincere affection for their companions of the
white race. It also proves how thoroughly the fascinations
of the Wilderness had enchained these supposed unhappy
and unfortunate captives, who had become almost
more Indian than the Indians themselves.

The only parallel to it is to be found among the
English settlers resident in Ireland. " beyond the pale "
during the Tudor period, some of whom, in like manner,
had adopted the native Irish ways, and like the white
Indians had become " Hiberniores ipsis Hibernis. "

In order to correct misconceptions, and put this
matter in its true light therefore, we have been specially
careful to mention the case of the " White Indians " of
America, because it shows in the clearest manner that
the native red man was not, as some have maintained,
altogether a fiend in human shape and entirely dead
to the feelings of humanity; for notwithstanding the
many drawbacks of the Indian life, Indian kindness and
hospitality constantly won over to itself very many

* An Historical Account of the Expedition against the Ohio Indians
in 1764 under command of Henry Bouquet, now Brigadier-General in
America, publ. Philadelphia 1766, pp. 26 to 29.

INDIAN SQUAWS. 223

white adherents, both among the British and the French.
Many of these " coureurs des bois, " as they were called
among the latter, were to all intents and purposes, Indians.
In a recent work, compiled from the most authentic
sources, the following passage occurs respecting white
captives made during the French regime in Canada:
"It was supposed for a long while," says one of the officers
of the colony, "that to civilize the savages it was necessary
to bring them in contact with the French. We have every
reason to recognise the fact that we were mistaken. Those
who have come in contact with us, have not become French ;
while the French who frequent the wilds have become
savages." *

Exactly as in the British cases already noticed, when
demands for the surrender of captives were able to be
enforced, the French found that " prisoners held by the
Indians often concealed themselves rather than return
to civilized life, when their surrender was provided for
by a treaty of peace." f

It is therefore clear that in their home life the
Indians were not so barbarous as has been generally
believed. Many whites who had married among them
were sincerely attached to their red wives and half-
breed families. Then again there are innumerable in-
stances of devotion shown by Indian women to their
white lovers ; in many cases they have faced the bitter
enmity of their own people for their fidelity to the
interests of their pale-faced partners, and in some instances
even death itself, rather than betray -those they loved.
A few of these Indian girls, chosen from the different
neighbouring tribes living about a fort or frontier

* Narrative and Critical History of America, by Justin Winsor,
Librarian of the Harvard University, 1889, Vol. v, p. 4.
j Ibid., Vol. v, p. 4.

224 INDIAN CONSPIRACY AGAINST DETROIT.

post, therefore, were generally a valuable protection to
the place. It is generally better policy to select them
from different tribes than from any one tribe, as expe-
rience shows that they then, partly through jealousy
and partly through distrust, keep each other in order.
They also keep their partners posted about what is
going on among the surrounding tribes, and thus the
whites were certain to hear through them, of any effer-
vescence or secret conspiracies among the Indians.
They were then able to take timely precautions which
has saved many a frontier post from destruction. There is
a romantic history attached to one of these cases which
we should wish to relate on account of the high political
importance which the circumstance assumed, which was
no less than the preservation of the important garrison
and frontier post of Detroit, during the great Indian
conspiracy organized by Pontiac, principal war chief
of the Ottawas, in May 1763. This movement was by
far the most widespread and serious of any of the
combinations made by the Indian tribes against the
pale-faces in the history of North America, and it
required the whole force of the British power in her
Canadian and other American possessions to subdue it.
Many detached forts and small garrisons did in fact
succumb, and their garrisons were in many cases ex-
terminated to the last man. Now Detroit was the most
important of them all and, like the city of Londonderry
in the Irish wars of 1688 — 90, it formed the key to the
whole position in the West. The modern city of Detroit,
which now stands upon the site of this once celebrated
fort, is as we know, situated upon the river of that
name which forms the outlet from Lake Huron, via
Lake St. Clair, into Lake Erie.

THE SQUAW'S WARNING. 225

In 1763, the garrison consisted of about eight officers
and 120 regular soldiers *of the 8oth Regiment *
under the command of Major Gladwin, a man of
fearless courage; f some 40 fur-traders, and other em-
ployes, completed the strength of the garrison; and if
there be any truth in tradition, it seems that in the Potta-
wattamie village hard by, there lived a girl of the Ojibwa
tribe, who it is said could boast a far larger share of
beauty than was common in the wigwams. She was one
of the wild beauties of the forest and was known to the
whites as " Catherine. " This girl had become devotedly
attached to the British Commander. It so happened
on the 6th of May 1763, she came to the fort, and
Gladwin on seeing her was at once struck by something
unusual in her appearance and manner. What was
the matter? But though he pressed her to disclose
what was weighing upon her mind, for a long time
the girl remained silent; but at last she took courage
and made a clean breast of it. " To-morrow (said she)
Pontiac will come to the Fort with 60 of his chiefs;
each will be armed with a gun cut short, and hidden
under his blanket. Pontiac will demand to hold a
council, and after he has delivered his speech will
offer a peace-belt of wampum. This will be the
signal ! Every Englishman will be killed ! ! " §

* See History of the United States of America, by George Bancroft,
1876, Vol. iii, p. 279.

f Fort Detroit at this time was a large stockade about 20 feet high,
and 1 200 yards in circumference, enclosing perhaps 80 houses; it had,
however, only two 6 pounders and one 3 pounder gun, with 3 mortars
of little use (Bancroft's History, 1876, Vol. iii, p. 377).

§ The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman (the younger), 1885,
Vol. i., p. 216. (Extract letter, from H. H. Schoolcraft, containing the
account given from the lips of the interpreter, Henry Connor). See also,
Carver's Travels, p. 155, publ. London, 1778.

VOL. II. 15

226 AN INDIAN COUNCIL.

The night passed without incident: nothing occurred
to create a suspicion of foul play; but of course
Gladwin and his officers were all on the alert, intently
watching the course of events; further questioning of
the girl had elicited that next day the Indians were
to assemble, ostensibly to play a game of ball, something
resembling our " Hockey, " which used in former times
to be a favourite game among the Indians. Catlin,
in his " American Indians " gives a full description of
it. At the hour indicated many warriors were seen
stalking towards the fort, wrapped in their blankets.
Never had there been a moment when the steady
stoical " sang-froid" of the British officer was more
severely tried, or when calmness and judgment were
of greater moment. Inside the fort, the whole garrison
was drawn up under arms, and the soldiers awaited
the result with that splendid courage and calmness
which has always been a characteristic of British troops.

Gladwin ordered that Pontiac and his warriors were
all to be admitted, according to the ordinary way in
time of peace, and as if nothing unusual had occurred;
and at 10 o'clock, the great war chief duly made his
appearance, accompanied by his treacherous followers,
all closely wrapped in coloured blankets.

There is nothing out of the common in this: it is
the usual practice of Indians when attending a council,
which we have ourselves witnessed on more than one
occasion. Each man wrapped in his blanket just in
this way, files in silent and dignified, and takes his
seat without a word being spoken ; and on this occasion
it seems, they rigidly adhered to the conventional
custom, which both before and since had always been
observed.

THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC DEFEATED. 227

Pontiac's men, we are told, were all tall, strong,
stately warriors, of peculiarly dignified aspect; but as
Pontiac entered, it is said, " he started, and a deep
ejaculation half escaped him," for at a glance he saw
that his plot was detected, and doomed to failure; for
on either side stood ranks of soldiers, and hedges of
glittering steel. Pontiac and his chiefs, however,
managed to maintain their composure, and filed into the
audience chamber in silence, their rigid muscles betray-
ing no sign of outward emotion; there they found
Gladwin with several of his officers, seated, and waiting
to receive them: but as the observant chiefs did not
fail to note, all were fully armed with swords and
pistols. Pontiac, it would seem, was the first to break
the silence. " Why (said he), do I see so many of my
father's young men standing in the street with their
guns ? " Gladwin haughtily replied that he had ordered
the soldiers under arms for exercise and discipline;
and after some demur the chief at length sat down.
The customary pause ensued, and then Pontiac rose
to speak, holding in his hand the wampum belt that
was to give the fatal signal. He began by professing
strong attachment to the English: "he had come," he
said, " to smoke the pipe of peace, and to brighten
the chain of friendship."— Gladwin and his officers
watched him with unruffled composure: and at one
moment Pontiac is said to have raised the belt, as if
actually about to give the signal of attack; at this
instant Gladwin is alleged to have slightly signed with
his head: the sudden clash of arms resounded from
the passage, while the roll of the drums, beating the
charge, filled the council chamber with their din.
Pontiac stood as one confounded, and some of the

228 QUESTIONS OF FRONTIER DEFENCE.

accounts say that Gladwin, rising from his seat, went
over, and drawing back the chief's blanket, exposed
the hidden gun, and informing him that all was known,
sternly rebuked him for his treachery.

Other accounts say that the commandant (and this
seems to be the more correct version of the story), not
wishing to force a rupture, remained motionless, awaiting
with unflinching hardihood to see what would come
next; while Pontiac in confusion and amazement, soon
sat down, perplexed and speechless. Gladwin then
arose and, in a brief reply, assured the chiefs of his
continued desire for friendship, but at the same time
he sternly menaced them with swift and ample ven-
geance, upon the occurrence of the first act of aggression
on their parts. And so the council ended, and the
baffled savages withdrew^, completely non-plussed at
the untoward turn the affair had taken. *

The military questions involved in the defence of
the frontier against the forest Indians, which had to
be encountered by our great-grandfathers in America,
were of the most difficult and perplexing nature. But
both the British and the French (while their colonial
power in Canada lasted) endeavoured to meet them in
a similar way — namely, by the erection of small forts
garrisoned by feeble detachments of troops, located at
important strategic points, widely separated from each
other by an expanse of wild country, about which very
little was known. In the Hudson Bay Territory, and
in British Columbia where the tribes were generally
friendly, this system has been maintained with con-
siderable success, till quite recent days: indeed it still

* See (among other authorities) History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac,
by Francis Parkman, 1885, Vol. i, pp. 216 — 227.

MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN FORESTS. 2 29

continues to be so now, in the barren grounds of
Northern Canada, without any organic change of system.
We need hardly advert to the very serious objections
to which such tactics are exposed. The same system
was however adopted and followed by the French
(probably more or less upon the lines observed in
America a century before), during the earlier period
of their occupation of Algeria, but it was there found
so disastrous in its results, that this system (vicious
above all in a plains country) has since been entirely
given up, except at a few points where reinforcements
could be pushed rapidly forward, in case of need, at
short notice. The system of keeping considerable
forces together at a few important points, has in fact
in modern tactics, entirely superseded the old plan
(and very rightly so, in these days) of scattering them
in detachments over a wide extent of country, in a
chain of weak posts, each of which was liable to be
cut off in detail before help could reach it.

In a great forest country, however, the movements
of a large force, accompanied by its necessary supplies
and munitions, are attended with almost insuperable
difficulties. We have ample evidence of that in the
disastrous expedition of General Braddock against the
French garrison of Fort Duquesne, at the confluence of
the Ohio and Monegahela Rivers, in 1755. * The expense
and toil of cutting roads through the forest ; the cross-
ing of streams and swamps; and transporting every-
thing for a great part of the way upon the backs of
pack horses, was found to be enormous. It was, however,
not on this account that this fatal expedition miscar-
ried, with overwhelming loss, and great military disgrace ;

* The place was finally wrested from the French, Nov. 28, 1758.

230 AMERICAN FRONTIER BLOCKHOUSES.

but the history of this serious defeat exhibits in the
clearest way all these transport troubles to which we
have adverted: and it also illustrates in terms which
are not to be mistaken the disadvantages under which
regular troops fight, especially when trained only to
warfare in the open, when called upon to encounter a
savage and crafty foe hidden in the dense thickets
of a great forest * — and as such we respectfully com-
mend the eventful history of this expedition to the
study of our military friends. We do so because it is
a subject never alluded to in our military histories;
and we must remember that defeats are sometimes
more instructive than victories from an historical point
of view.

In the days of our ancestors, a century and a half
ago, with their weak forces and small resources, the
problem of how to hold their ground against Indian
forays was surrounded by difficulties which at present
can hardly be realized; at every point upon the fron-
tier there was an urgent call for protection, with but
very scanty means of meeting it; the most that could
be done was in general to furnish a small party of 15
or 20 men under the command of an ensign, or a
lieutenant, to hold a blockhouse, or stockade, which
was usually erected on the head waters of some stream,
or other such point, which was supposed to guard the
avenue to far distant wilds. From these places fur
traders and other persons employed in trafficking with
the savages, took their departure into the wilderness
upon their arduous and dangerous expeditions, which
sometimes lasted for years. The communications with

* See History of Braddoctfs Expedition against Fort Duquesne in
J755> by Winthrop Sargent, Philadelphia 1856.

LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS WILDERNESS. 231

the settlements were maintained by narrow trails, such
as have been already described, leading through the forest,
along which trains of heavily laden pack horses carried the
necessary supplies and trade goods (for most of these
places were Indian trading-posts as well as forts), and for
a long time they formed the pioneer depots which were
afterwards the nucleus of flourishing settlements. *
Here these small detachments and these young officers
in the early colonial days were frequently immured for
long periods of time, buried in the Wilderness, with
little or no supervision by superior officers; and if
abuses sometimes crept in, if discipline became lax, if
these frontier posts were often inefficiently guarded, it
was not to be wondered at, even though such results
were only too frequently the prelude to the most fatal
and deplorable disasters. Every movement was watched
by the keen eyes of stealthy savages, and ample expe-
rience showed that " the intelligence department " was
much more quickly and efficiently worked by the red-
skins than by the pale-faces. News always permeated
through the forest most quickly among the Indians;
and in the frequent border wars these advanced posts
were in consequence often cut off to a man, even before
the intelligence of their being in danger could reach
the settlements.

These posts, however, had to be maintained, because
the prosperity of the various frontier towns was mainly
dependent upon the inland trade with the Indians to
the westward. In quiet times, however, men of sporting
tastes could from these forts indulge in their favourite
pastime, almost to their hearts' content; there was

* See some observations upon ancient forest trails in Narrative and
Critical History of America, Edited by Justin Winsor, 1889, Vol. i, p. 294.

232 WILD SPORTS ON THE FRONTIER.

often literally almost no limit to the supplies of game
of every kind, both of fur and feather : splendid sport
with rod and line was also to be had at their very
doors, without trouble or expense, such as the modern
angler would now-a-days deem to be altogether
fabulous. *

Let us take for instance the case of this very place,
Fort Detroit, whose history has been already selected
as furnishing a picturesque and important incident in
Indian frontier annals ; and make a brief retrospect of
its famous past from a sportsman's point of view. Its
position, as a glance at the map will show, was a
noble one: the old fort stood upon the very bank of
the Detroit River, some seven miles below its point of
exit from Lake St. Clair; and the American historian
Bancroft thus speaks of it : " It was, " he says,

" the largest and most important of the North Western settle-
ments. The deep, majestic river, more than half-a-mile wide,
carrying its vast flood calmly and noiselessly, imparted grandeur
to a country whose meadows and plains — festooned with wild
vines, woodlands, brooks and fountains — were so mingled
together as to leave nothing to desire. The forests were a
natural park, stocked with buffaloes, deer, quails, partridges,
and wild turkeys. Wild fowl of delicious flavour hovered
along its streams, which yielded an astonishing variety of
fish, especially white fish, the richest and most luscious of
them all. Every luxury of the table might be enjoyed at
the sole expense of labour (for gardens, it seems, yielded
splendid crops of every kind), and from its battlements it
commanded a noble panorama embracing a wide prospect
for 9 miles, above and below." f

* See our section on " Fistfing" for further accounts of the sport still
to be had in some of these wild retreats.

\History of the United States, by George Bancroft, 1876, Vol. iii, p. 376.

GREAT WILD-FOWL SWAMPS. 233

Now in the olden day the Detroit River was a cele-
brated " duck pass " (in sporting phraseology) where
countless myriads of wild fowl passed up and down
to and from their feeding grounds, along the margins
of Lake St. Clair, which though it may look a small
place upon a map, is in reality a sheet of water 29
miles long, by nearly as much in width. It is however
shallow, and a canal has of late years had to be dredged
to 1 6 feet in depth for the convenience of shipping.
Water weeds therefore flourished and there was a peculiar
aquatic plant which grew in its shallows (Zizania A. quatica
or " Canada Rice ") * which was greedily sought after
by wild fowl, and which attracted innumerable flocks
to the locality to feed upon it — more than that, not so
very far to the southwards of the embouchure of the
St. Clair into Lake Erie, were some of the most
celebrated wildfowling grounds in the interior of North
America, upon the swampy margins of these great
lakes. We hope to be able to say something more
upon this subject in our section upon Wild Fowl, but
must defer any further remarks upon it until another
opportunity.

Our object, we need hardly say, in referring to
sporting matters at present was to make good our
assertion as to the magnificence of the sporting quarters
in the midst of which many of these western frontier
posts were planted ; given a quiet time, if a man could

* This invaluable game plant, the Wild, or Canada Rice, grows in
N. America in shallow waters from Canada to Florida, occasionally
attaining a length of 9 feet. It is a hardy annual, producing a very
good grain, which attracts aquatic fowl of every description, and which
was formerly collected by the Indian tribes and made into a species
of bread. It is however as a food for water birds that this plant is
so valuable — the only objection to it is that it stops up waterways,
and thus acts as an impediment to drainage and navigation.

234 CANOE PATHS.

make friends of some of the local Indians; though
there may have been drawbacks in the way of
"no society," there were other attractions which
made many of our forefathers prefer the forest to
the city.

Now as regards the rivers and great waterways,
which in a boundless tree-covered region, form (as the
late Mr. Parkman has so well expressed it) " the liquid
highways of the forest," * we feel bound to say a few
words before we close this section. We imagine the
phrase itself to be one of those beautiful figures of
speech, so common in the picturesque oratory of the
Indians, when describing the glories of their forest
homes: but however that may be (for Mr. Parkman
himself was a master of descriptive narrative), it is
not a little curious to find almost the same expressive
simile in use, thousands of miles away, among some
of the most degraded races of hopeless savages existent
in the New World : we refer to the Indian forest tribes
upon the Amazon River in Brazil, who speak of these
waterways as their " canoe paths, " f and we mention
the matter as a remarkable instance of the elegance
of diction so often to be found among the wildest
children of Nature, who draw all their ideas and similes
from the Great Book of Nature, their only study.

A forest stream regarded simply as a " canoe path"
we need hardly say, supplies a natural highway, smoother,
more beautiful, and more enduring than anything ever
constructed by human hands — in comparison to such a
pathway, the imperishable surface of " The Appian

* History of the Conspiracv of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman (the
younger), 1885, Vol. i., p. 147.

7 See Brazil, the River Amazon, and the Coast } by Herbert H.
Smith, 1880, p. 87.

CELEBRATED FRONTIER FORTS. 235

Way," laboriously constructed by the skill of ancient
Roman craftsmen, endures but for a day.

But Time leaves no trace of its destructive power
upon the natural landscape, and so it comes to pass
that we constantly find a wonderful resemblance in
the cast of thought and mode of expression among
the people of the wilderness, wherever their lot may
have been cast : here we see the same idea striking the
dweller beneath the shadows of the great equatorial
forests, and the wanderer through the pathless wilds
of the Canadian woods, which, at the time we refer
to, covered almost the whole of the eastern side of
North America in one continuous labyrinth of trees.

Now in the early colonial days in America the
prosperity of a frontier town mainly depended, as we
have already explained, upon its inland trade with the
Indian tribes; and in consequence those advanced
posts of which we have spoken were pushed on
further and further into the unknown wilderness be-
yond, where it was their main objective to hold the
pass to some point which lay upon the head waters
of some great inland river system, upon which canoes,
and bateaux, the white man's form of boat, could float
down, it might be for thousands of miles, throughout
the then almost wholly unexplored interior, and from
whence they could sally forth as from a maritime port,
and subsequently return laden with costly furs and
other merchandise, obtained from the native tribes in
exchange for articles of European manufacture.

Two such places were: the celebrated Fort Du-
quesne, built by the French in 1754, at the point of
junction of the Monagahela with the Ohio, where the
present city of Pittsburg now stands — the other was

236 FORT DUQUESNE.

Fort Oswego, built by the British in 1726, upon the
mouth of the river of that name, where it debouches
into the south eastern end of Lake Ontario. The
commercial and strategic importance of these posts
was at once recognized by the governors of both
these rival nations, and for several years a bitter war
was waged between them, mainly with the object of
ousting his opponent from the possession of one or other
of these places. The disastrous result of an expedi-
tion sent out by the British for the reduction of the
first-named, in 1755, we have already spoken of: but
true to their history, notwithstanding this and other
most serious, and at the time almost ruinous defeats
at the hands of the French (of whom it must be
said that 150 years ago, they possessed much more
able leaders than the English in North America), the
British still stubbornly fought on, and on, both by sea
and land, until at length the tide of fortune changed ;
the British arms were completely successful at all
points, and the French regime in Canada was brought
to an end in 1760. Fort Duquesne (the Gate of the
West) we need hardly add, in the general downfall
of the French power in North America, had already
passed, some two years before the final catastrophe,
into British hands ; another force fitted out against the
French by their redoubtable enemy (in those days), was
known to be rapidly pushing its way through the
forest; their Indian scouts brought them daily notice
of its approach: and the French garrison, which at
that time was only some 500 strong, after blowing
up the magazines, fled in bateaux down the Ohio ; and
the next day (Nov. 28th, 1758) the British standard
waved in triumph above the ruined battlements, which

IMPORTANCE OF FRONTIER POSTS. 237

had cost her so much treasure and her troops such
losses and reverses, during a long period of arduous
warfare.

Oswego, in the same way, had always been a bone
of contention, and an object of envy to the French.
In 1727, the year after it was first garrisoned by the
British, the French governor at Quebec demanded its
evacuation on the ground that it was erected on French
territory. This being refused it was summoned to sur-
render, but the British stubbornly held their ground ;
after many threatenings it was however at length
captured by Montcalm, Aug. i4th, 1^56, but it was
re-occupied by the British again, not long afterwards.

Though matters political are to a great degree for-
eign to the objects of this work, yet the supreme im-
portance, in a great forest country above all other
places, of firmly maintaining judiciously selected inland
frontier posts giving access to extensive systems of
water communications opening up the interior of the
country, must be evident to all colonizing peoples;
that being so therefore, we regard a digression into
this subject as not altogether irrelevant to the scope
of a work professing to deal with the Wilderness and
its Tenants. The policy of the future is reflected in
the mirror of the past : it cannot consequently be
aught but profitable to take a hasty glance, ere we
close this section, at the salient features of the great
struggle which arose out of disputes with reference to
these matters and other boundary questions, between
Great Britain and France, towards the middle of the
1 8th century in North America.

The prize in dispute was a great one ; for the
North American forest belt, in this zone, was incom-

238 FORT OSWEGO.

parably the most valuable and splendid of all colonial
possessions.

Resting upon the port of New York, as a basis of
supply by sea, the British northern line of communica-
tions, 150 years ago, was the Hudson River to Albany ; *
thence it divided into two branches : the first via the
Upper Hudson to Lakes George and Champlain, and
thence to the St. Lawrence : the other via the Mohawk
River — thence by a short portage to a narrow channel
called " Woods Creek, " which gave access by a series
of lakes and streams for a distance of nearly 300 miles
to Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario. Such in brief were
their main trade-routes with the great lakes, and the
whole of the mighty western wilderness, f

The possession of Oswego by the British was found
to be ruinous to the French fur*trade with the Indians,
for the British gave the western Indians, who brought
their peltries to exchange for goods, both better
prices and better goods than the French, and their
business was much more skilfully conducted than that
of their rivals — there was far less of red tape and
fewer vexatious restrictions upon trade than there were
in Canada under the old regime. The British Indian
trade at Oswego and Albany in consequence flourished
exceedingly, and above all, by fair dealing and a judi-
cious Indian policy, the friendship of almost the whole
of the native tribes inhabiting the shores of the great

* Distance 144 miles by water.

-j- There were two ancient passes from Lake Erie to the Ohio River,
thus giving access to the Mississippi and great internal river systems.
The first of these was via Sandusky Creek to the head waters of the
Sioto, which was navigable for large boats 200 miles to the Ohio; the
other via the Miami River and down the Wabash to the Ohio, a dis-
tance of 412 miles. These were the ancient trade-routes marked upon
the old maps.

THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY. 239

lakes was secured to the British: though many of
these Indians had previously been attached to the
French interest.

Here we must explain, that if the British had not
in this way maintained these friendly communications
with the red Indian tribes, the latter would most
certainly all have joined the French alliances against
Great Britain, not only in matters of peaceful trade,
but also in war.

There cannot be a shadow of a doubt that in such
case, the Indians, instigated by French agents, would
have kept up a perpetual border warfare against the
British. This in fact was what "the French Indians"
and Canadian tribes generally did, even as it was.
In this way, it was hoped that the British settlers
would have eventually become tired out, and have
thrown up their lands in disgust ; and unquestionably if
support had not constantly been sent out from Eng-
land, the thing would have ended either in the
British being expelled from America altogether, or at
the very least they would have been ignominiously
driven back to a few isolated trading posts adjacent
to the Atlantic seaboard.

To effect this had been the constant and avowed
policy of France up to the middle of the 1 8th century,
at which time the whole continent of North America
was practically claimed as hers.

Now it is certain that it was the possession of
advanced posts such as Albany, Oswego, Fort Edward,
Fort William Henry, and other frontier forts in that
section of country, which enabled the British to maintain

240 IMPORTANCE OF INLAND WATER WAYS.

their important alliance with " The Six Nations, " * a
combination of powerful Indian tribes inhabiting the
country from the head waters of the Connecticut to
the Oswego ; and thence to the westward of the latter
river. The late Mr. Francis Parkman; the American
historian of Canada, is most emphatic upon this point,
and gives ample proof of the vast influence which
these places exercised upon the Indian trade and
politics. The line of communications by which they
were supplied was, as we have said, by water, as they
could never have been held by trails through the
forest. The supreme importance therefore, from a mili-
tary point of view, of maintaining the command of the
principal waterways giving access to the far interior
of this, and other continents, when important British
interests have to be maintained, must be evident.
This however, raises questions which can be more
conveniently discussed in our chapter upon " The
Great River Systems," we shall therefore take leave
of the Forest Region of the Temperate Zone at this
point.

* These were— (i) The Mohawks— (2) The Onondagas— (3) The Se-
necas — (4) The Oneidas — (5) The Cayugas — and (6) The Tuscaroras —
known as the Iroquois Confederacy, and forming probably the only real
example of intimate union recorded in the history of the American Red
aborigines. All other Indian confederacies were mostly mere ropes of
sand.

CHAPTER X.

THE ARCTIC OR POLAR ZONE.

Its Position and Extent. Early Arctic Voyages. Highest Latitude
yet Attained. Value of Polar Researches. The Arctic Regions as a
Field for the Study of Natural History. Northern Limits of Tree
Growth. The Arctic Birch. A probable Survival of a Temperate
Era. Unchangeableness of Nature. Example of Egypt during 6000
Years. Probable Vast Antiquity of the Spitzbergen Birch. The Arctic
Summer Thaw. The Midnight Sun. Wonderful Rapidity of Growth
under Constant Sunlight. Effects of Sunshine on Ice and Snow.
Winter Descent of Arctic Cold into Temperate Regions. Open Sea
during Winter on the North Coast of Norway. Ice in the Baltic.
Causes of these Anomalies. The Gulf Stream. Drift Wood. Tree
Life near Hammerfest. Cause of the Closure of the Baltic by Ice.
Freezing-point of Sea Water. Baltic Pine Forests. The Subarctic
Summer's Night. Midnight Sun at the North Cape. Splendid
Panorama of Arctic Solitudes. The Spitzbergen Summer. Snow Blind-
ness. Serious Effects of Ice Glaze. Probable Combination of "Sun
Burn" and "Frost Bite." Icy Winds. Uses of Goggles and Cloth
Masks. The Period of Constant Day in Norway. Arctic Hay Crops.
Crops of Lapland. Antiseptic State of the Atmosphere in Great Cold.
Unchanged Corpses 250 Years Old. Frozen Bodies of Extinct
Monsters. Arctic Plants. Effect of Snow in Protecting Vegetation.
Arctic Flowers, Mosses, and Lichens. The Arctic Fauna. Wild
Reindeer in Spitzbergen. Theory of their Arrival from Unknown Lands
to the Northwards. Difficulties of Travel over Ice Hummocks. The
Spitzbergen Islands. How Polar Animals Live. Immense Size and
Fatness of the Spitzbergen Deer. Reindeer Moss. Habits of Reindeer.
Caribou and Caribou Migrations. Causes of Migrations of Animals and
Birds. Vast Concourse of Migratory Birds in the Arctic Zone. Up-
rising of a Vast Flock of Geese. Successive Arrivals of Arctic Migrants.
Antarctic Geese. The Subarctic Bush Forest. Sudden Break-up of the
Arctic Winter. Some of the Scientific Aspects of Snow. Its Immo-
bility. The Permanent Storing up of Cold in Snow. Its Effects upon
Climate. The Melting of the Great Snows by Heated Air. Mr.
Seebohm on the Sudden Transition from Winter to Summer on the
Yenesay. Extraordinary Power of the South Wind in Dissolving Snow.
Immediate Arrival of Migratory Birds. Wonderful Character of these
Migrations. Migratory Flights at Great Altitudes. Nocturnal Drama
of the Air. Punctuality of Railway and Steamer Records beaten by
Birds. Speed of Bird Flights. Mortality During Migration. Immense
Length of Flights Taken. Beauty of the Arctic Summers, Linnaeus

VOL. II. 24* 1 6

242 THE ARCTIC ZONE.

upon. Mr. Wheelwright on Game in Lapland. Permanent Habitants
of the Polar Regions. Birds. Animals. Polar Bears. Musk Oxen.
Nutritive Value of Reindeer Moss. Reindeer Burrowing in the Snow
for Moss. American Buffalo in Deep Snows. Scent and Weight of
Musk Oxen. Fossil Musk Oxen. Probable Great Antiquity of the Genus.
The Preservation of Primeval Types. Why One Survives and Another
Perishes. The Arctic Hare, and Smaller Rodents. Animals Living in
Snow Drifts. Plants Growing Beneath the Snow. The Purple Arctic
Saxifrage. Plants in a Dormant State beneath Glaciers. Holes of Arctic
Animals in Snow Drifts. Caverns, or Open Spaces beneath the Snow.
How formed. Supporting Power of Snow. Snows Melting at the
Ground Level. Ice Forming on the Roofs of Cavities. Why Snow,
Touching the Ground, Melts. Delicate Creatures Living in Warmth and
Safety beneath the Drifts. The Lemming. The Arctic Mouse. Arctic
Mirage. Arctic Hares. How the Polar Hare Lives. Ptarmigan. Birds
Flying into Snow Drifts. Black Cock rising out of Snow. Condition
of Snow in Great Cold. Protective Colourings of Arctic Birds and
Beasts. South Kensington Museum Specimens. How Nature produces
Albinism. Arrest of Pigmentation in the Human Hair. Hair Follicles.
Hares Turning White during Severe Winters. Similarity of Effects of
Great Cold and of Great Heat. Trees Cracking in Frosts. Shrinkage
of Woods, Horn, Bone, etc. Fall of the Leaf of Trees, caused by
Intense Dry Heat, or by Winter Cold. Similarity of Atmospheric
Electrical Conditions. The Skin Burnt by Metals in Great Cold.
Similarity between Burns and Frost Bites. Treatment of Superficial
Frost Bites. Severe Frost Bites. Congelation. Persons Frozen to
Death generally Found partly Naked. Scientific Aspects of Cold as
Regards the Human Frame. Dr. Garrod's Experiments. Tendency to
Sleep. Phenomena of Death by Cold. People Frozen in Blizzards.
Falling into the Sea, in the Arctic Regions. Health in the Polar
Climates. The Therapeutic Effects of Dry Cold. Effects of Wind in
Polar Climates, Professor Nordenskiold upon. Sir George Nares's
Opinions. Precautions in Great Cold. Canadian Winters. Progressive
Cold of the Arctic Night. Lowest Recorded Temperatures. Return
of the Sun accompanied by the Greatest Cold. Effects of Intense Cold on
Ships' Stores. Difficulties of Arctic Travel. How Salt Ice turns Fresh.
Icebergs. Movements of Glaciers. Icebergs Breaking off Greenland
Glaciers. Ice Cliffs near Behring's Straits. The Antarctic Ice Barrier.
Storms and Intense Severity of Climate in the Antarctic Seas. Great
Movements of Antarctic Ice. Mammoth Icebergs. Precautions against
Ice at Sea. Sledging Parties on Polar Ice. Impracticability of Reaching
the Pole in this Way. Sledging restricted to Spring and Summer. Why
Impossible in Winter. Arctic and Subarctic Snows. Canadian Winter
Camps. Beautiful Effects of Freshly Fallen Snow. The Aurora
Borealis. Showers of Ice Crystals. Temperature of the Realms of
Space. The Arctic Night. Moonlight in the Arctic Regions. Brilli-
ancy of Stars. Electrical Phenomena. "The Boreal Crown." Spring
B*reak-up of the Polar Ice. The Scriptures on Snow, Ice, and Cold.
Attractions of the Arctic Region to Explorers. Health as Affected by

THE ARCTIC ZONE. 243

Residence in an Arctic Climate. Winter in the Hudson's Bay Terri-
tory. Hudson's Bay Go's Officers. Their Attachment to the Service.
Mr. Warburton Pike on the Charms of the North. Indian Appreciation
of its Beauty. Winter at the Great Slave Lake. Concluding Remarks.

THE Arctic or Polar Zone forms the last of the
great terrestrial zones into which we have ventured
to divide the earth, while endeavouring to present the
various aspects of Nature to the reader's notice. It
extends from the Arctic Circle, which is drawn by
geographers at the parallels of 66° 32' North and
South latitude, to the poles, in both hemispheres;
thus embracing within its limits an immense region
in each hemisphere, circular in its form, and having
a radius of 1408 geographical miles, drawn from the
poles.

At the south pole this zone is of course known as
the Antarctic circumpolar region ; for the sake of
brevity however, we have simply described it under
the general designation of "The Arctic Zone," for
with the exception of a very small number of expedi-
tions, sent out by the governments of Great Britain,
France, and the United States (the most recent of
which was despatched in 1840, by the last-named
power), no attempt whatever has been made to explore
the antarctic regions, which therefore remain a " terra
incognita " to the present day. *

There has recently been some talk of sending out
another expedition, promoted we believe, by our

* A private attempt at Antarctic exploration, in connection with the
right whale fishery, was made during the summer of 1894 — 5, but
as a commercial venture it proved a failure, no right whales
being seen. (An account of this voyage, given before a meeting of the
Victoria Geographical Society, appeared in the Melbourne Argus of
March 20, 1895).

244 ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION.

Australian colonies, fitted out with all the most modern
appliances which naval science can suggest, so as
to penetrate as far as possible towards the Southern
Pole; but, up to the time of writing these lines, the
proposition has taken no definite form, and nothing of
a practical nature has been done to carry out the
suggestion : probably in consequence of doubts expressed
by the naval authorities, as to whether any useful
results would be likely to accrue, sufficient to warrant
the risk and expense, which it is estimated would amount
to at least £15,000 before any attempt could be made
to penetrate into these stormy and inhospitable regions,
where all existing knowledge seems to warrant the
belief that the cold is more intense, and the climate
in every way more rigorous, than it is in corresponding
situations within the Northern Polar Zone : so imperfect
indeed is our knowledge of even this last-named region,
which has been the objective of innumerable expeditions
for centuries past, that the last edition of the Encyclopedia
Britannica has thought itself warranted in summing
up the results attained by them, for so far, in the
following terms:

" Our ignorance of about three millions of square miles, within
the North Polar Circle, debars us from the possibility of con-
sidering the physical geography of the Polar regions as a
whole." *

That being so, and our knowledge of the antarctic
regions being infinitely more scanty, we venture to think
we need make no further apology to our readers for
calling this section of our work " The Arctic Zone" with-
out special mention of the Southern Polar Regions.

At the same time it is not a little remarkable from

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edit., Vol. xix, p. 327.

EARLY ARCTIC NAVIGATORS. 245

how early a period in the history of Navigation, we
find mention made of Polar expeditions, and still more
curious is it to observe how wonderfully successful
some of these ancient mariners were, in penetrating
to very high latitudes ; especially when we consider the
scanty means at their disposal, and the primitive
state of shipping and naval science, in those days.
It is not our intention to weary our readers with
any detailed historical account of Polar expeditions;
we may mention however, that so long ago as 1235,
the Scandinavian Norsemen had made settlements on
the shores of Greenland, as testified by one of their
Runic stones bearing that date, found in a cairn in
Lat. 73° N. And among the records of early polar
voyages, we find that Sebastian Cabot sailed under
Sir Hugh Willoughby, May 20, 1553, " for search and
discovery." In 1556 Stephen Burrough sailed to the
Kara Sea. Frobisher's expedition sailed in 1576, and
that of Da vies in 1585. While the renowned naviga-
tors, Hudson, first sailed in 1607, and Baffin in 1615, *
men whose names, as we know, are still preserved,
probably to all time, in the names of " Hudson's Bay"
and " Baffin's Bay, " which were respectively so called
to perpetuate the memories of these adventurous seamen.
Since those days a great number of expeditions have
sailed from time to time, in which nearly all the lead-
ing naval powers have taken a part, with a view to
extend the range of human knowledge in this direc-
tion. It is however somewhat disheartening to observe
how small are the results which have been obtained
in comparison with the outlay, the sufferings, and the
losses which have been incurred.

* Encycl. Brit., Qth Edit., Vol. xix, p. 316, 317.

246 THE FURTHEST NORTHWARDS.

Exactly who has reached the furthest point north,
seems to be somewhat uncertain. The Americans
assert that it was done by one of their expeditions ; the
claim is thus put forward by Lieutenant Greeley, U.S.N.,
who commanded the United States Expedition sent
out in 1 88 1, for he says in his book — "Lieutenant
Lockwood, U.S.N., attained to Lat. 83° 25' S"., the
highest latitude ever attained by man," * while in the
British Expedition, under Captain Sir George Nares,
R.N., that officer states in his account, that on May 12,
1876, Commander Markham, R.N., of H. M.S. Alert,
reached Lat. 83° 20' 26" N. f so that there is only
about three nautical miles between them in any case.

Yet so long ago as 1827, in the days of the old
sailing ships, Sir Edward Parry, another British officer,
got as far as Lat. 82° 45 ' N. § or within about 30
nautical miles of the highest of either of the two fore-
going estimates ; both of which we need hardly say
may vary a few miles from the true position, as single
observations are never to be implicitly relied upon.
So well is this known by nautical men, that whenever
the exact latitude of a place has to be ascertained, it
is usual to take the mean of a number of observations
obtained from stars, which are found to give more
accurate results than either solars or lunars. That
being so, we consider that we are justified in saying,
that it would be unsafe to assume that the Americans

* Three Years' Arctic Service, by A. W. Greeley, Lieut. U.S.N., Vol.

i. P- 335-

^Arctic Voyage, by Capt Sir Geo. Nares, R.N., 1878, Vol. i, p. 377.
(These points have however been very much overpassed by Herr Nansen,
a Norwegian, who has just returned (August, 1896) from the Polar
regions and claims to have reached Lat. 86° 14' N. This intelligence
reached Europe while these pages were in the press).

§ Ibid., p. 173.

THE NORTH WEST PASSAGE. 247

got three miles nearer to the pole than the British,
and that it does not seem to be quite established which
of these expeditions did so, if the point is deemed
worthy of debate.

As regards the still older voyages, it is, as we have
said, not a little remarkable, how nearly they came
up to the very best results obtained by the aid of
steam, aided by all the means and appliances within
reach of modern navigators. These fine old sailors,
many of them, as we know, set sail towards the frozen
north in quest of what is now ascertained to be a
fallacy ; namely, to discover a short route to the Indies,
via the North West passage. This North West passage
it is true, was effected by Captain M'Clure in 1850—
but the only useful result which followed that discovery
was to satisfy the world, that as a trade route it was
as impracticable as if it did not exist at all. Still it
is not the less wonderful to think that so long ago as
1607, Hudson, in the clumsy galleons of nearly three
centuries back, made his way in pursuit of this idea,
to Lat. 80° 2$' N., a point only about 180 miles short
of the furthest point reached up to the present time.

This must be regarded as a remarkable achieve-
ment, considering the state of nautical science at
that period.

Turning however, from what we must call these
somewhat disheartening results of modern efforts at
Polar exploration, let us endeavour to picture in our
mind's eye, what sort of country it is, for the discovery
and examination of which so many costly expeditions
have been fitted out, and so many valuable lives
sacrificed. Have the results that have been obtained
been worth all this expenditure of life and capital ?

248 OBJECTS OF ARCTIC RESEARCHES.

Opinions as to this, of course, may differ, but for our-
selves we have no hesitation in asserting, that every
endeavour to spread the light of knowledge over the
dark corners of the earth, in the end is worth the
cost— and in these pages, we trust, we shall be able
to show that a great deal of very interesting and also
very valuable information, has been obtained respect-
ing the arctic regions by recent explorations. These
modern expeditions have been mainly or altogether
undertaken for scientific purposes, whereas the objects
of the early explorers were essentially different; for
they were generally prompted by a thirst for gold, or
the discovery of mythical lands, supposed to contain
enormous wealth, which rumour asserted to exist beyond
the western seas.

Others again set forth in search of more substantial
gains, in the way of whale oil, or seal and walrus
skins, and so forth; but it has been reserved for our
modern navigators to brave the dangers of the icy
seas in the pure spirit of scientific observation and
study. That results worthy of these efforts may rea-
sonably be expected to accrue from future expeditions,
is the view still held by the majority of scientific men.

Many questions of high scientific importance yet
remain to be solved by means of Polar research ; of this
there, can be but little doubt. The late learned geogra-
pher and meteorologist, Lieutenant Maury , of the United
States Navy (whose writings upon Navigation, and upon
the Physical Geography of the Sea, are still regarded
as standard works), for instance, was always strongly
impressed with this opinion, and in eloquent terms set
forth, for our instruction, the vast importance which in
his opinion these desolate regions exercise upon the

VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS. 249

general economy of terrestrial Nature, and upon the well-
being of man throughout the world ; there, he says—

"the icebergs are framed and glaciers launched; there the
tides have their cradle, the whales their nursery; there the
winds complete their circuit; and the currents of the sea
their round in the wonderful system of oceanic circulation;
there the Aurora is lighted up, and the trembling needle
brought to rest; and there too, in the mazes of that mystic
circle, terrestrial forces of occult powers, and of vast influence
upon the well-being of man, are continually at work. It is
a circle of the mysteries; and the desire to enter it, to ex-
plore its untrodden wastes and secret chambers, and to study
its physical aspects, has grown into a longing. Noble daring
has made arctic ice, and snow-clad seas, classic ground."*

In addition to all these things, important questions
respecting the magnetic pole, the mariner's compass,
and other nautical matters, may be included in the
list of objects for which arctic exploration is expected
to furnish valuable results. In Natural History too, a
vast field of observation is sure to be opened up—
these barren grounds being the breeding places of
countless myriads of birds, which from the furthest
regions of the earth resort there during their annual
migrations. To the naturalist therefore, a visit to these
regions must be regarded as of supreme importance,
as affording opportunities which could not possibly be
obtained elsewhere, for observing the habits of birds,
many of them of rare varieties, which here congregate
during the summer months. Many birds, there can
be no doubt, penetrate vast distances to the north-
ward— wherever in fact patches of open water can

•' * The Physical Geographv of the Sea, by Lieut. Maury, U.S.N.,
i6th Edit., 1877, p. 207.

250 TREE LIFE IN ARCTIC REGIONS.

be found — and some, it may be, even to the pole
itself, while others seem to be confined to the bushy
belt of dwarf forest which frequently is found to extend
into the southern borders of this zone. — This is a
subject upon which the annals of the polar regions
teem with interest, though we fear it will be impossible
to do justice to it in the short space we shall be able
to devote to it here.

As a rule the Arctic Zone, except towards its
southern limits, is of course generally destitute of any-
thing like a regular forest growth. The extreme sever-
ity of the climate, the great length of the winters, and
the constant existence of frost in the deeper subsoil,
is of itself sufficient to forbid the possibility of any
luxuriant tree growth; nevertheless trees of several
kinds, of stunted growth, from our last division, " The
Great Forest Region of the Temperate Zone," do extend,
in many places, to a certain distance into this zone, though
we fear the materials for tracing the exact limits of
arboreal vegetation at this point are not forthcoming;
we are therefore unable to state exactly the furthest
northern limits of the forest, except at a few very well-
known points. In Norway, for instance, where on account
of the supposed set of the Gulf Stream, along its western
coasts, we might have expected timber to have reached
a very high latitude — Professor Nordenskiold states
that " the Northern limit (of the forest) is near Trom-
soe."* (Lat. 69° 39' 12" N.). A growth of dwarf
shrubs and bushes however extends in places nearly
to the shores of the polar sea — thus, " In the neigh-
bourhood of the North Cape, at a little distance inland,

* Voyage of the Vega, by Professor A. E. Nordenskiold, Vol. i, p.
42. Translated by Alexander Leslie, 1881.

THE SCENTED ARCTIC BIRCH. 251

birches 3 to 4 metres high are met with. " This birch
is the sweet scented variety, Betula odorata (Bekst.) ; *
on the other hand, contrary perhaps to what we
might have expected, in Siberia trees attain a con-
siderably higher latitude, for according to the same
authority —

" they run to the beginning of the estuary delta, i.e., to
about 72° N. As the latitude of the N'orth Cape is 71 ° 2' 40",
the wood in Siberia goes considerably further north than
in Europe. The outermost trees there, are gnarled half wither-
ed larches (Laxix Dahuricd), and Picea obovata, and further
east, in Kamschatka, birch." f

In Arctic America, considerably to the northward
of the Great Slave Lake, according to Mr. Warburton
Pike there is some well-grown pine timber § and in
many places the lakes are fringed with dwarf willows
and other trees. On the coasts of Alaska too, timber
is found at considerable distances to the northward
of the arctic circle — and the same in Labrador, on
the Atlantic side. As regards the antarctic regions, we
have been unable to discover any mention of trees
seen growing on any of the lands which have been
visited by the few explorers who have thus far visited
those peculiarly desolate and stormy shores.

In the high latitudes of the northern circumpolar
area however, it seems that even in Spitzbergen,
situated between the 7 6th and 8 ist parallels of latitude,
a few very dwarf specimens of tree life are still to be

* Voyage of the Vega, by Prof. A. E. Nordenskiold, Vol. i, p. 42.
(N.B. — This remarkable prevalence of sweet scented vegetation in the
extremes of heat and cold is a fact deserving of note).

t Ibid., Vol. i, p. 43.

§ The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by Warburton Pike,
1892, p. 123.

252 ANCIENT DWARF TREES.

found in sheltered spots ; these extraordinary little trees,
if we may so call them, are birches of the variety " Betula
Nana " (Var. Relicta) with stems which are hardly thicker
than a quill, or higher than a man's knee : yet these truly
Lilliputian representatives of the forest monarchs are
some of them of very great age; having contrived
to maintain existence through long periods of time,
in spite of the death-like slumber which the icy breath
of a Polar winter imposes upon them for at least nine to
ten months out of every year. These stunted descendants
of a fine, hardy, free-growing class of timber however,
furnish us with a wonderful example of the extraor-
dinary vitality which certain forms of vegetable life
possess, under wThat appears to be almost every species
of adverse circumstance — and competent judges gener-
ally suppose them to be a survival from the era when
Spitzbergen possessed a warmer climate than she has
done during historic time.

If this be, as it probably is, the fact, it is worth
while to pause for a moment to consider what such
a circumstance implies.

The records of the human race are now known to
go back in the case of some of the oriental dynasties,
for a greater number of thousands of years than is
generally supposed. The present existing history of
Egypt for instance, carries us back for a period of at
least 6000 years. The high artistic perfections of its
people show that it was an ancient empire then, but
during that period we have what constitutes almost
irrefragible evidence that the climate of Egypt, and
therefore presumably those of the rest of the earth also,
have not undergone any very great or material
change.

ARCTIC CLIMATES UNCHANGED FOR AGES. 253

Had this been otherwise, it is hardly possible to
doubt but that the climate there would have partaken
more or less in the change — yet the oldest relics of
its ancient past show conclusively that the same dry
sand, the same grains, plants, fruits, flowers, and ani-
mals, existed in Egypt then, much as they do now;
thus proving by the most irrefragible of all evidence,
that the condition of Egypt in those days as to its
climate, was not so very different, if it differed at all,
from the Egypt of to-day.

That being so, it follows that arctic ice and snow
covered the face of Nature in the neighbourhood of
the poles from before the dawn of historic time, much
in the same manner as it does at present. Had the
polar axis of the earth shifted to any very appre-
ciable extent, it must have entailed a general redistri-
bution of climate throughout the world. The object
of this digression therefore, is to show the enormous
period of time during which our little friend, the birch
tree of the arctic regions, must have braved the rigour
of the elements upon the desolate plains of Spitzbergen.
For we must bear in mind, that great as the space of
historic time may appear to us to be when compared
with our own brief and ephemeral period of existence-
even the earliest dawn of human history is as nothing
when compared with the immeasurable eternity of the
past, so far as it is gauged by the space of geological
time. If therefore we were enabled to put a date to
the period when Spitzbergen enjoyed a milder climate
than it does at present, it might carry us back to an
epoch, compared with which 6000 years (the present
approximate limit to which human records extend)
might seem small in comparison.

254 ARCTIC AND TROPICAL VEGETATION.

In tropical regions as we have already ventured to
point out, the exuberance of life, and of vegetative
power, seems to overflow the landmarks set up by
human skill and labour, much as the rising tide sweeps
in upon and covers the beach, left dry below high
water mark *: here, in the Arctic Zone however, we
have reached a region where these operations of Nature
are distinguished by a quiescence closely resembling
that of an eternal sleep; so slowly do they work.
Thus specimens of the arctic birch, found by Norden-
skiold the Swedish explorer, in Spitzbergen, " did not
exceed two feet " in height, " the thickest stem being
2 to 3 lines in diameter" (that is, equal to about one
quarter of an inch in thickness). Yet after the return
of the expedition to Sweden, when examined by the
help of a microscope, " a stem this thickness was found
to be about 60 years old." f Contrast this vegetative
torpor with the shooting up of giant bamboos to a
height of 120 feet, in 3 or 4 months, during the tropi-
cal rains. Yet when we come to consider the matter,
this exceeding slowness of growth in arctic climates
ought not to appear to be so very remarkable, seeing
that frost prevails there throughout almost the entire
year, during which vegetation is for the most part at
a standstill.

But the marvellous vegetative power of the tropical
sun is thereby exhibited in its most striking
aspect. Some experiments have from time to time
been made, with a view to ascertain how far the thaw
penetrated into the soil during the brief duration of
an arctic summer, which tend to show that —

* See our chapter on "The Equatorial Zone."

j Professor A. E. Nordenskiold's Arctic Voyage, 1881, p. 186.

PERMANENTLY FROZEN SUBSOILS. 255

" the depth to which in Northern countries the summer thaw
penetrates, varies with the nature of the soil, but except in
purely sandy, and very porous beds, it nowhere extends two
feet deep in American and Siberian lands, lying within the
Arctic Circle." *

So far north as Spitzbergen, this would probably
be reduced to quite one-half, for at the end of July
or early in August, 1881, at Jockmock in Swedish
Lapland, only a very short distance within this circle,
we found the frost still prevailing in great intensity,
rather under than over this distance beneath the
surface; and were informed by residents, that it never
disappeared from the soil at that depth. The subsoil
of arctic lands therefore remains in a permanently
frozen state, and if it was not for the perpetual presence
of the sun above the horizon in these regions, for a
period of some eleven weeks during the summer season,
it is probable that almost every kind of vegetation
would slowly perish; but the prevalence of endless
day, during this period, has the effect of so stimulating
the growth of plants, that it proceeds by both night
and day throughout the whole of this time with
extraordinary rapidity — and this to a certain extent
makes up for the exceeding shortness of the season.
But the moment the nights begin again, the descent of
the solar disc beneath the horizon, even for an hour
or two, is instantly followed by a rapid fall in the
temperature; and a short but intense interval of cold
sets in, which is but tardily removed by the reappearance
of the great luminary of the day, whose early rays,
in these far northern regions, have but scant power

* Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald, by Sir John Richardson,
Edited by Professor E. Forbes, F.R.S., 1854, p. I.

256 SUN'S POWER DURING ARCTIC SUMMERS.

to warm the chilled atmosphere, once they have been
withdrawn from it for ever so short a time. For
the greater part of the day however, during the height
of the summer season, the power of the northern sun
is often felt to be of very considerable intensity, so
that it sometimes burns the face and hands with almost
tropical power. Very hot days are therefore a thing
by no means unknown, even far within the arctic
circle — provided there is no wind and that the sky is
clear, — during the height of its short summer: but all
strong winds are of course very keen and bitter, their
temperature being always low in consequence of
the wide expanse of ice and snow over which they
generally blow. In connection with this fact it is
well to bear in mind, that though snow-clad ground
and clear ice have the faculty of reflecting heat, very
strongly, they do so without absorbing heat. Hence
it comes that on snow-clad mountains, for instance,'
while the sun shines brightly, the heat is often most
trying, because of the way in which the sun's rays are
refracted by the snow, but the moment the genial rays
of this the great source of terrestrial life are withdrawn,
the cold becomes as severe as the heat appeared to
be just before ; the moment of sunset each evening is
also immediately followed in these localities by an
intense and bitter cold that seems to pierce the very
marrow of one's bones. So again, during the winters
at highly elevated stations, like St. Moritz in the
Engadine Valley, Switzerland, situated 6089 feet over
sea level ; the temperatures are frequently quite of an
arctic character ; the night temperatures often descend-
ing to 30, and even 40 degrees below zero : yet here,
during the day (when some hours of bright sunshine

WINTER IN THE UPPER ENGADINE. 257

are usually enjoyed in fine weather), though the ther-
mometer may still stand many degrees below zero
(Fahr.) in the shade, persons skating on the lakes are
perhaps obliged to wear the thinnest dress materials,
on account of the great amount of heat refracted from
the surface of the ice and snow. So long as the sun
remains brightly shining therefore, they enjoy an
artificial summer ; but the moment it goes down behind
the mountains, furs must be put on at once by per-
sons remaining in the open air ; otherwise exposure to
the intense cold would speedily produce frost bite, or
other serious results.

Hence it appears that persons who ascend to great
elevations upon mountains enter what is practically
an artificial arctic region, closely resembling in many
of its aspects the normal conditions of a Polar land.
There the day represents the arctic summer ; while
the night closes in with all the severity of winter
within the arctic circle ; and instances, as we know,
are not uncommon, where travellers, benighted upon
high mountains without shelter, have perished of cold,
almost more frequently than such accidents have occurred
during Polar expeditions.

It is remarkable too, the great distances to which
during the depth of winter, the climate of the arctic
zone descends into temperate regions, and for consider-
able periods of time continues to keep the temperature
down almost or quite as low as it falls in the highest
known latitudes.

These exceedingly low temperatures have been fre-
quently noted in the Hudson's Bay Territories, in
Siberia, etc., but we shall refer to the matter again
when considering the question of the arctic cold.

VOL. II. 17

258 SUBDIVISIONS OF THE ARCTIC ZONE.

On the other hand, it is no less remarkable how
the isothermal contours are deflected towards the
north, at certain points, as if they were the gates of
Nature, placed there by her own beneficent hand to
give entrance to those icy realms, where the empire
of frost under normal conditions holds perpetual sway.

Professor Meyen, for this reason, in his division of
the earth into Climatic Zones, has subdivided the great
region thus periodically invaded by the arctic winter,
into no less than four distinct areas, which he has
named "The Colder Temperate Zone " (4.5° to 58° Lat.
N. and S.), " The Subarctic Zone " (Lat. 58° to the Arctic
and Antarctic Circles— 66° 32' N. and S.), "The Arctic
Zone " (from Lat. 66° 32' N. and S. to Lat. 72°), and
" The Polar Zone " (all tracts of land beyond Lat. 72°
N. and S.) ; * his object being to define, as accurately
as possible, the geographical limits of the plants etc.,
contained therein.

We have however, contented ourselves with a much
simpler division, embracing the last two of Professor
Meyen's in what we have called " The Arctic Zone, "
but always subject to the reservation, which we have
not failed constantly to insist upon in tracing the
limits of all our terrestrial zones, that nowhere are
there any hard and fast lines, at which we can set
bounds to the climatic changes of Nature, or say
" Thus far, but no further ; " on the contrary, ex-
perience shows that local circumstances often involve
far-reaching exceptions and changes, which it is our
duty to recognise and point out, endeavouring at the
same time, to trace the effects to their moving causes —

* Outlines of the Geography of Plants, by Franz J. F. Meyen, M.D.,
Professor of Botany at the University of Berlin, 1846, pp. 1 6 1 — 22O.

HAMMERFEST.

259

whether it be to elevation of the land above the sea,
or to the winds, or the great oceanic currents, and
the various proportions of moisture in the atmosphere.

All these things, as we have repeatedly had occa-
sion to show, may so far modify the climates of the
earth, at particular points, that one might be tempted
to exclaim — "Climatic Zones do not exist at all! — the
idea is a delusion and a snare ! "

But when we come to carefully examine into the
probable causes which produce these changes, in many
cases we can (as we humbly conceive) point out the
plain reason why they come about; which we gener-
ally find set forth, for our guidance and instruction,
in the Great Book of Nature, in characters so clear
that he who runs may read.

We find a good instance in point within the arctic
zone at Hammerfest, a town of some 2000 inhabi-
tants, situated on the northern coast of Norway, in
Lat. 70° 40' N., Long. 23° 42' E. It was founded
in 1787, and had then, and still has, the distinction
of being the most northern town in the world: situated
not so very far south of the boundary of Professor
Meyen's " Polar Zone."

Sir John Franklin with his ships the Erebus and
Terror, was beset by ice, at the beginning of the
winter of 1846, upon almost the same parallel of
latitude: namely in Lat. 70° 50' N., Long. 980 23' W. ;
and as wre know, not one of the 138 persons who
composed the personnel of that expedition, ever
returned to tell the tale. Altogether 23 expeditions
were sent out in search of them, by land and by
sea; but it was not till long after — namely on May
6th 1859— that a paper was discovered by Lieute-

260 THE GULF STREAM IN THE ICY SEAS.

nant Hobson in a cairn, certifying to the above facts
and stating that Franklin, their gallant leader, had
succumbed on April 22, 1848. Captain Sir F. L.
M'Clintock, R.N., returning in the Fox from the
search, during the autumn of 1859, was thus at last
enabled to bring home certain information of the
disaster, in the shape of relics belonging to Franklin
and other members of this company, some of whose
bleaching skeletons they had discovered and buried.

Yet at Hammerfest, in nearly the same latitude as
where these losses occurred, we find that the ocean
very rarely freezes at all — and then only for short
periods with thin ice; so that Hammerfest, though so
far within the arctic circle, may be considered a port
that is open throughout the year, while far to the
south of it, in the Baltic, the iron grip of winter closes
every harbour : frost seals up the seas there every winter,
and transforms them into solid fields of heavy ice, over
which armies can march, and traffic can be carried
on as upon a public road. Now why should these
things be — or how shall we account for them? In
this case we are able at once to assign two reasons
which furnish a complete explanation of this apparent
anomaly.

In the first place, the set of that marvellous regula-
tor of climates, the Gulf Stream, impinges strongly
upon the North Western extremity of Europe at the
point where Hammerfest is located, so that we are
here met with the remarkable fact of an ocean current
governing the actions of men upon the dry land; and
actually choosing the site of a -town for them. It is
the warm water, brought up from tropical latitudes

TROPICAL DRIFT-WOOD. 261

across an expanse of stormy ocean, thousands of miles
in width, that causes the port of Hammerfest to be
kept clear of ice throughout the year.

That this is so, there is not a shadow of a doubt,
for upon its waves the current carries with it irre-
fragible testimony of its origin, in the quantity of
drift-wood that it is constantly depositing all along
these coasts, which affords an unfailing supply of
firewood to their inhabitants. Experts have also
frequently examined the timber thus cast up, and
have found that a good deal of it consists of sorts
growing only in tropical lands, and known to flourish
in Central America and the West Indian Islands,
from whence the Gulf Stream proceeds: — "The large
seeds of the 'Entada Gigalobium'" for instance, "carried
by the Gulf Stream from the Gulf of Mexico, are found
at the northern extremity of Spitzbergen, " * and so
greatly does its tepid water modify the climate,
in these high latitudes, that whereas, as we have
stated on the authority of Professor Nordenskiold,
the regular forest stops at Tromsoe (Lat. 69° 39'
\2n N.), which he assigns as the northern limit of
trees upon the west coast, we are assured on what
seems competent authority, that they reappeared again,
and used to flourish in former days, upon the island
of Kvalo (i.e. Whale Island), upon which the town
of Hammerfest stands, which "was once well wooded,
but there are now no trees left, except a small birch
wood, 6 kilometres in the south part of the island, " f
the other trees having all been cut down for firewood.

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xxii, p. 408.

y Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Norway, 8th Edition, 1892,
p. 179.

262 ICE IN THE BALTIC.

Next, as regards the annual sealing up of the
Baltic by ice, throughout the winter months, a glance
at the map will show how the narrow entrance to it
from the ocean deprives it to a very great extent
from participation in the benefits which the Gulf Stream
confers upon the western coasts of Europe. The salt
water from the open sea enters slowly here, the set
of the current in the straits being twofold, i.e., an
under current of salt water runs in, and an upper cur-
rent of brackish water runs out. * The reader on
consulting the map will also observe the great number
and size of the rivers which descend into the gulfs
of Bothnia and Finland.

These rivers are fed during the summer season by
vast volumes of water proceeding from the melting
snows, and the volume of their discharge into the sea
is therefore out of all proportion greater than the length of
their courses would seem to imply. The consequence is
the greater part of the Baltic is fresh water, and though
the fact may not be generally known is not in the strict
sense of the word " a sea " at all. The salt water goes
up very little further than the latitude of Stockholm, f
The Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland are both
of them almost entirely fresh water. Perch and pike
are angled for and taken right out at sea in the Gulf
of Bothnia, so are trout and other fresh water
fish. §

Now, as we all know, the freezing point of fresh
water is 32° Fahr., whereas "28° Fahr. is the tem-

* Maury's Sailing Directions^ also his Physical Geography of the
Sea, Edition of 1869, p. 156.

-j- Stated on authority of captains of Swedish steamers plying alon
the Baltic ports.

§ Same authorities.

FREEZING TEMPERATURE OF THE OCEAN. 263

perature average sea water invariably assumes during
the process of congelation ; " and it appears that
during a series of experiments undertaken with a view
of determining the temperature of the water in the
arctic regions " De Haven invariably found the tem-
perature of the sea water, immediately under the ice,
to be 28° Fahr." * Here therefore, we have an ad-
ditional reason, which of itself would go far to explain
why "the Baltic" (a general name for these land-
locked seas) should freeze up in winter. Because not
only does it do so at a higher temperature than the
ocean, but also the climate on the Swedish side is
distinctly colder, and more rigorous in winter than it
is upon the Norwegian coasts, and the temperature
often descends there below what is usual even at
Hammerfest. Visitors to the Baltic will however be
charmed with the beauty of its wooded shores, which
are almost everywhere covered to the tops of the
highest hills with luxuriant pine forest, which continues
to cover the uncleared interior of the country up to
and beyond the arctic circle, where the fir trees in
sheltered ravines and on alluvial lands still flourish
with considerable freedom of growth. Very fine timber
in fact grows there, as we have ourselves seen.

The cause of this luxuriant growth of trees upon
the Gulf of Bothnia notwithstanding the severity of its
climate, is of course the greater length and warmth
of its summer season, and the protecting range of
mountains to the westward, which break the force of

* The Physical Geography of the Sea, by Lieut. Maury, U.S.N.,
1 6th Edition, p. 282.

N.B. — The officer referred to is Lieut. De Haven, U.S.N., who was
in command of one of the expeditions sent out by the U.S. in search
of Sir John Franklin.

264 EFFECTS OF OCEAN GALES ON TREES.

the Atlantic gales, whose biting blasts in northern
latitudes, as we know, injuriously affect the growth of
trees, even much more to the southwards. On the
west coast of Ireland, for instance, trees planted in
spots exposed to the full force of the sea breezes may
often be seen sheared off at the tops, as if dressed by
the pruning knife.

On the west coast of Norway therefore, in like
manner, a sterile belt of rocky islands and headlands
generally occupies the coast line, whose stern and
rugged grandeur impart a beauty all their own to these
wild and storm-beaten shores ; it is only by degrees, as
a certain amount of shelter is obtained, that the pine
forest begins, and even then it is confined to ravines
and valleys, the higher portions of the hills always
assuming a more or less arctic aspect.

It is at a little to the southward of Bodo that the
midnight sun first begins actually to be seen ; not that
this, however, very materially affects the aspects of
the midsummer's night, even considerably further to
the south, for perpetual day may then be said to reign
over pretty well the whole of the Scandinavian Penin-
sula; at Trondjem for instance an ordinary newspaper
can be read without difficulty in the open air at mid-
night, during the month of June, and part of July, the
upper edge of the sun being only just below the
northern horizon, where its afterglow still lingers, till
its rising again, in brilliant tints of red and orange.
Very beautiful effects are thus often to be seen at this
season, and if we might be pardoned for " making a
bull," we should say that the busiest part of the day
in these Norwegian ports is often at midnight, when
everybody seems to be at his work, and generally to

THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 265

prefer those cool hours, to midday, when the sun is
often oppressively hot, and shines with intense brilli-
ancy and power. A very great and wearisome nuis-
ance this prevalence of continual day soon proves to
most travellers, who find it difficult to sleep on account
of the light. The darkness of the night therefore, may
be regarded as one of those blessings to mankind,
whose value can only be properly appreciated by the
dwellers in high latitudes, or by the inhabitants of
tropical lands, where the night comes to give a blessed
relief from the exhausting heat and glare of day.

At Hammerfest the midnight sun is of course seen
in all its glory ; there is a mountain called " Tyren "
near the town, 1230 feet in height, which tourists are
in the habit of ascending to witness the unwonted
spectacle from its summit, where it is said that the sun
is visible at midnight from May i3th to July 2gth. *
Another favorite point of view is from the North Cape
in Lat. 71° 1 1' 40" N., Long. 25° 44' o" E. This lofty
headland, situated on Magero Island, which is slightly
detached from the mainland, is generally accounted
the most northern point of the continent of Europe.
Here a grand cliff rises from the sea, in some places
quite perpendicularly, to a height of about 968 feet, and
the view from the edge of the precipice extends over the
ocean to the north, far away towards the arctic soli-
tudes; while at the same time the traveller enjoys a
splendid panorama of what is probably one of the
wildest and finest pieces of coast scenery in the world.
" The midnight sun is finely seen here. The altitude
of its centre, at midnight, on June 21 is about 4

* Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Norway, 8th Edition, 1892,
p. 1 80.

.266 THE NORTH CAPE.

degrees, but by July 26 it has sunk to 4 minutes." *
A graphic description of the phenomenon, as seen
from this point, is given by Mr. Bayard Taylor in his
" Northern Travel," wherein he describes with much
force and beauty of style, the wonderful splendour of
sky, and the impressive grandeur of the scene.

From the North Cape to Spitzbergen is only a dis-
tance of some 400 miles, in a N.N.W. direction; this
group of rocky, snow-clad islands, situated between
Lat. 76° 30' and 80° 3o/ north, and between the
loth and 3oth parallels of east longitude, forms a sort
of half way station between Greenland and Nova
Zembla. Viewed from these high latitudes, according
to Captain Scoresby (a whaling captain, who is still
recognised as a leading authority upon matters con-
nected with the arctic regions):

" There is nothing very remarkable in the appearance of the
sun at midnight, except that when its altitude is very small,
it may be viewed with the naked eye, without any painful
sensation; but when it is more than 4 or 5 degrees above
the horizon, it generally appears as refulgent as with the same
elevation in Britain." f

Here therefore the reader \vill observe perfect daylight
prevails throughout the whole night ; little or no differ-
ence being therefore observable between midnight and
any other part of the 24 hours. Speaking on this subject,
Mr. John Laing, surgeon of Captain Scoresby's ship,
the Resolute says :

"During my stay in this country (Spitzbergen) in 1806 and
1807, distinction between night and day was almost com-

* Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Norway, 8th edition, 1892,
p. 183.

y The Arctic Regions, their Situation, Appearance, Climate and Zoology,
by Capt. Wm. Scoresby (the younger), 1849, p. 115.

THE SUN'S POWER AT SPITZBERGEX. 267

pletely lost; any perceptible difference between the splendour
and radiance of the midday and midnight sun in clear weather
arose only from a different degree of altitude, and some of
our most experienced Greenland sailors, when called upon
deck, have frequently asked me whether it was day or night." '

In Spitzbergen, and these far northern latitudes how-
ever, as we have already had occasion to remark, the
power of the rays of the noon-day sun is often remark-
able, for Captain Scoresby, a keen and accurate ob-
server proceeds to point out that —

" where they fall upon the snow-clad surface of the ice or
land, they are in a great measure reflected, without producing
any elevation of temperature; but where they impinge on the
black exterior of a ship, the pitch on one side occasionally
becomes fluid, while ice is generated on the other. A ther-
mometer placed on the black paint, on which the sun shines,
indicates a temperature of 800 or 900, or even more, while on
the opposite side, a cold of 20° is sometimes found to pre-
vail." " This remarkable force of the sun's rays is accompanied
by a corresponding intensity of light. A person placed in the
centre of a field, or other compact body of ice, under a
cloudless atmosphere and elevated sun, experiences such an
extraordinary intensity of light, that if it be encountered for
any length of time, it is not only productive of a most pain-
ful sensation in the eyes, but sometimes of temporary and
even, I have heard, of permanent blindness." f

These and similar facts respecting the power of the
sun's rays during the polar summer, are so well estab-
lished by the unanimous testimony of those who have
visited these regions, that we deem it unnecessary to

* A Voyage to Spitzbergen, by John Laing, Surgeon, 2nd Edition, 1 8 1 8,

P- 59-

f The Arctic Regions, their Appearance, Climate, Zoology, etc. by Capt.
Wm. Scoresby, 1849, p. 115.

268 SNOW BLINDNESS.

quote further evidence on the subject. The affection
of the eyes known as " snow-blindness" is however most
common in spring; for as the sun begins to acquire
power and gets bright, it thaws the upper crust of the
snow fields, while the frosts which follow by night convert
it into a glassy surface, covered with a film of ice of such
dazzling brightness that it quickly produces a species
of acute inflammation of the eyes of a very serious nature,
one of the peculiar effects of which is to render the
sufferer peculiarly liable to a return of it, when sub-
sequently exposed to the same influences. Indeed the
intolerable glare from this highly glazed surface is
often so strongly refracted as to scorch the face and
hands and all exposed surfaces as if burned by fire, some-
times producing swelling and blisters of a very extensive
character. These affections are well known to every
plainsman and trapper upon the American prairies, many
of whom suffer severely from them, perhaps even more
so than in the very far North itself.

Colonel Dodge, an officer of very great experience,
whose opinions we have frequently had occasion to
refer to, in his " Hunting Grounds of the Great West"
states in allusion to this subject that —
"the most ordinary antidote is to smear the face around
the eyes with grease and gunpowder, but this as well as
goggles, green veils, and broad-brimmed hats, are all at fault.
Many persons suffer very acutely, and exposed parts blister
as if burned by fire. I have known cases of serious illness,
the face swollen, and extremely sensitive to the touch, the
eyes entirely closed, the nose a blister, the lips parched and
cracked. Many persons lose the entire skin of the face, after
such an exposure, and suffer for weeks." *

* The Hunting Grounds of The Great West, by Col. Richard J. Dodge,
U.S.A., 1877, pp. 66, 67.

SUNBURN COMBINED WITH FROST-BITE. 269

These extreme cases, we need hardly say, are generally
the result of imprudence, and are caused by the refraction
of the sun's rays, probably accompanied by an icy wind,
Alpine travellers, and others ascending- high mountains,,
are often great sufferers from similar causes, the cli-
mate at these great altitudes, as we have already had oc-
casion to remark, closely resembling that of the arctic
regions. *

We are inclined to think that the very severe nature
of the blisters in some of these cases indicates a com-
bination of sunburn and frost-bite. It must be remem-
bered that intensely bright suns and snow-glaze have
nothing to say to the actual temperature of the atmo-
sphere. Some of these extraordinarily bright days are
frequently of remarkably low temperature, and the air
may all the while be 30 or 40 degrees below zero, if
there is no wind, and this in regions considerably to
the south of the arctic circle. The descent of the
great cold of the Polar regions into temperate lands
in the centre of great continents is a well known phe-
nomenon which occurs periodically in both hemi-
spheres, but especially in the northern, where the area of
the great plains is so enormous ; and when these very
low temperatures are accompanied by an icy gale, as-
we have pointed out in our remarks on " Blizzards "
and " Northers, " they become inflictions of a most
serious and dangerous character, a very small degree
of wind with a very low temperature being often sufficient
to render travelling impossible, and even a very short
exposure dangerous. Travellers in the arctic regions
and other sections of country liable to these invasions,

* Mountaineering, by C. T. Dent, 1892, pp. 81, 82. (Badminton
Library).

2 yo ICY WINDS.

should therefore always be prepared for their possible
occurrence.

Coloured glass goggles, with carefully fitted and
enclosed sides, are indispensable in all northern coun-
tries to avoid the risk of snow-blindness; and cloth
masks, veils, gloves, etc., may have to be worn to
protect the hands and face when there is a wind.
These, however, are matters which deserve careful con-
sideration : for " wind " such as we here refer to must not
be supposed to be a breeze such as we are accustomed
to in England, but a mere draw of air, which is quite
sufficient to cause frost-bites and other serious results
in very low temperatures. On the other hand great
care must be taken not to overload the person with
clothing so as to create perspiration, as in such case
the damp clothes are apt to freeze. For this reason furs
should not be worn by people while in hard exercise.

The length of the constant day during an arctic
summer of course varies with the latitude, every degree
further north causing an increase in it of several days'
duration; but materials, we fear, are not at hand to
enable us to state with precision its exact duration in
the very high latitudes attained by arctic explorers,
because as they are constantly on the move, no con-
tinuous observations are ever obtained at any one
point. M. Du Chaillu, in his " Land of the Midnight
Sun " has, however, given a table (prepared from offi-
cial sources) of the gradual progress of the sun along
some of the well-know^n fixed points upon the Norwe-
gian coast, which we append, as it serves to convey
a better idea of this phenomenon than anything else,
and we have, to make it more complete, added the
latitudes of the places to the table.

PROGRESS OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN.

271

Midnight sun first seen.

Midnight sun last seen.

Upper
Rim.

Half
Sun.

Whole
Sun.

Whole
Sun.

Half
Sun.

Upper
Rim.

At Karasjok
Lat. 68° 40' o"N.

May 19

May 2 1

May 22

July 21

July 22

July 23

At Tromso

Lat. 69° 39' i2"N.

„ 18

„ 19

„ 20

„ 22

„ 24

., 25

At Vardo

Lat. 70° 21' 36" N.

» 15

„ 16

,j 17

„ 26

„ 27

„ 28

At Hammerfest

Lat. 70°39' I5"N.

» T3

» T5

„ 16

„ 27

,, 28

„ 29

At North Cape
Lat. 7 i° n' 40" N.

„ ii

„ 12

». !3

„ 30

» 31

*
Aug. i

The reader will thus see the gradual and clock-like
motion of the solar orb, in its progress to and from
its highest northern declination, and we need hardly
say that for considerable periods before and after the
appearance of the midnight sun, the days gradually
lengthen and shorten, according to the latitude, as they
do elsewhere. While it remains visible above the horizon,
we may add, the midnight sun is always to the north of
the observer, and appears to travel in a circle round the
heavens, requiring 24 hours for its completion. Of course
at noon it reaches its maximum elevation in the meridian,
and at midnight passes within a few degrees of altitude
above the northern horizon. This considerable period
of constant sunshine in the frigid zone is a beautiful
and beneficent provision of Nature, whereby vast areas
of fertile land near, and even within the arctic circle,

* From M. Paul Du Chaillu's Land of the Midnight Sun, 1 88 1,
Vol. i., p. 117. (A similar table, somewhat -differently arranged, will
be found in Murray's Handbook for Norway, 1892, p. 181).

272 ARCTIC HAY CROPS.

are rendered susceptible of cultivation. Thanks to the
midnight sun, very fair crops of hay, and several sorts
of grain can be raised within certain areas very far
to the northward, where the frost never quits the deeper
subsoil; nevertheless the genial influence of the sun's
life-giving rays permeates far enough into the frozen
surface to render a rude agriculture and an actually
somewhat luxuriant vegetation still possible. Speaking
of the country between the head of the Gulf of Bothnia,
and the White Sea, M. Du Chaillu, who has himself
crossed its entire extent, thus describes it:

" The country which extends from the Gulf of Bothnia to the
northern extremity of Europe is almost entirely within the
arctic circle. Vast areas are covered with forests of pine and
fir, the latter predominating, while many hills are clad with
the white birch to their very top. On the banks of some
of the rivers are numerous farms and hamlets, often surrounded
by fine meadows, and fields of rye, oats and barley. Vege-
tation is wonderfully rapid under the influence of almost
constant sunshine, 7 or 8 weeks only (according to M. Du
Chaillu) intervening between the sowing and the harvest." *

These remarks of M. Du Chaillu afford valuable
evidence of the fertility which may exist in certain
districts within the arctic zone, and upon which books
have sometimes cast a doubt.

The average length of time required for the raising
of similar crops in our own country is of course very
much greater, and may be set down at more than
double that required during ordinary years for an

* The Land of the Midnight Stm, by Paul Du Chaillu, 1881, Vol.
i» P- 53- (We think, however, that the time is here slightly under-
stated, as we should feel inclined to extend the interval between sowing
and harvest by another two or possibly three weeks).

ARCTIC MEADOWS. 273

arctic crop, but if so, its quality and the percentage
of its yield will compensate for that.

Arctic hay, so far as we have seen it, is generally
short in its length, and would make a poor show in
an English market. The fields are also generally very
full of beautiful wild flowers, we cannot call them
weeds, but we fear they do not improve the quality
of the grass as a feeding stuff. The hay harvest in
Norway, Sweden and Russia forms quite a curious
spectacle to the stranger, on account of the peculiar
way they work it, by drying the grass on high wooden
hurdles, where being exposed to the full influence of
sun and wind it quickly dries, when it is at once
conveyed into log huts standing in the middle of the
fields, which are constructed specially for its reception.
In the high latitudes, such as that of Spitzbergen
and other lands lying far to the northward, mere
words can give but a faint idea of their utter desolation
and almost complete barrenness.

It is probable that so far north as Spitzbergen it
is always freezing in the shade, even during the
hottest day in summer — from the moment in fact that
the sun's rays are not actually shining directly upon
an object. On the sunlit side of a hill therefore, it
may be quite hot, while on its shaded portion many
degrees of frost prevail. This is clearly shown by
the perfectly antiseptic condition of the atmosphere
which always exists there, it being well known that
at a temperature of 32° F. or below it, putrefactive
fermentation is arrested. Where severe frost therefore
prevails, food supplies of all kinds will keep good for
an indefinite period. Thus in Russia during winter
they expose piles of carcases of oxen, pigs, etc., for

VOL. II. 1 8

274 ANTISEPTIC POWER OF FROST.

sale in the markets, which keep as well £s so much
firewood while the cold weather lasts. Again, a cask
of flour buried on Chamisso Island in the high arctic
regions by Captain Beechy in 1826, was perfectly
sound and fit for food when disinterred in 1848, and
even the iron hoops of the cask were not rusted. *

Captain Scoresby also says that wood has been found
in Spitzbergen which had resisted all injury from the
weather during the lapse of a century, f and M. Bleau,
in his "Atlas Historique," mentions that the bodies
of seven Dutch seamen, who had perished there in 1665,
were found 20 years afterwards in the most perfect
state of preservation. Lord Duiferin also, in his " Let-
ters from High Latitudes," records the fact that in
Magdalena Bay, Spitzbergen,

"there are to be seen, even to this day, the bodies of men
who died upwards of 250 years ago, in such complete pre-
servation that when you pour hot water on the icy coating
wThich encases them, you can actually see the unchanged
features of the dead, through the transparent incrustation." §

It is quite possible that these may be the same bodies
mentioned by M. Bleau, and there seems no special
reason to doubt that they may thus continue to be
preserved, without alteration, even for centuries to
come. There is the well-known case, for instance, of
bodies of the extinct Mammoth (Elephas Primigenius]
and Rhinoceros (R. Antiquitatis) found on the banks
of the Lena River in Siberia, preserved in an almost

* Zoology of the Voyage of H. M.S. Herald, by Sir John Richardson,
Edited by Professor Forbes, F.R.S., 1854, p. 8.

y The Arctic Regions, their Appearance, Climate and Zoology, byCapt.
Wm. Scoresby, 1849, p. 115.

§ Letters from High Latitudes, by Lord DufFerin, 1858, 4th Edition,
p. 221.

ARCTIC ROCK PLANTS. 275

unchanged condition, which Professor Nordenskiold
thinks may have lived hundreds of thousands, or even
millions of years ago, the remains of one mammoth
being, he tells us, "in so fresh a state, that the eye
and trunk were quite visible." *

The fact of frost existing always in the ground in
this manner migiit seem to be incompatible with
vegetation of any kind. Nevertheless there are certain
classes of plants whose regular habitat is among the
everlasting snows. Nearly all our principal grasses,
for instance, have their arctic representatives, and
also a good many of our hardier wild flowers. There
is the arctic birch, of which we have already spoken,
and two or three varieties of very dwarf willows, the most
arctic being a mere creeper, two or three inches high,
and a considerable number of valuable lichens, mosses,
saxifrages and other rock plants, whose hardy natures
enable them to brave the storms and extraordinary
rigours of an arctic climate. Here again we are met
with one of those wonderful and beautiful provisions
of Nature, examples of which are eternally before the eyes
of every careful and intelligent observer. The snow,
which buries all these regions deep beneath its dreary
shroud, serves as a shield and covering to protect
these little plants from the biting influences of intense
frost, and from the wintry blasts, which might other-
wise extinguish their feeble flame of life. They are
so constituted as to be unaffected by the immense period
of darkness in which they pass nine or ten months
out of the twelve, and throughout which vegetation
is mostly suspended by a profound and death-like

* Voyage of the Vega, by Professor A. E. Nordenskiold, 1881, Vol.
i, p- 441-

276 THE ARCTIC FLORA.

slumber, that continues until the moment when they
again emerge into daylight and sunshine. Then, as
we have already explained, they immediately awake,
like a child aroused from sleep, and vegetation pushes
forward with great rapidity during the brief summer
season. Were it not for the covering of snow, how-
ever, it is probable that frost would penetrate with
such intensity into the ground, that it would remain
almost constantly in such a state of iron-like congela-
tion that most of the arctic plants would gradually
perish, but botanical research shows that though the
number and variety of the arctic flora are few in
comparison with other and more favoured regions,
still that quite a long list of plants have been ascer-
tained to maintain existence there, for the Encyclopedia
Britannica, in a summary of the results obtained thus
far, states that —

" there are 762 flowering plants and 925 cryptogams, within
the arctic circle, making a total of 1687 plants. Lapland con-
tains by far the richest flora, amounting to three-quarters of
the whole, while three-fifths of the species found in Arctic
Asia and America also belong to Lapland." *

This however is only what might have been expected,
seeing the wonderful fertility of portions of it, to which
we have already called attention.

We do not propose to weary our readers with any
technical description of arctic flora, but shall merely
remark that among the common flowers and plants of
our own country, which have their representatives in
these northern regions, are the dandelion (Taraxicum
Dens Leonis], a poppy (Papaver Nudicaula), three species
of ranunculus, and several of our meadow grasses.

* Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xix, p. 328.

BRITISH GRASSES IN POLAR REGIONS. 277

Among others there is an arctic poa, an arctic
foxtail, and an arctic fescue, besides rushes of
several sorts; also several berry-bearing shrubs and
plants which grow remarkably well in Lapland, such
as the juniper, crowberry, bilberry, and the Alpine
strawberry. Then as a spice there is the aromatic
caraway-seed (Carum Carui], also the highly flavoured
herb Angelica (Archangelica Officinalis) used by confec-
tioners. Among the valuable mosses or nutritive lichens
which partake of the character of mosses, we may mention
the well known Iceland moss (Cetraria Islandica) and
reindeer mosses (Cladonia Rangiferina and C. Gracilis}\
while as the commonest and chief of the most arctic
flowering and forage plants we have the wonderfully
hardy " Saxifraga Oppositifolia " deserving of special
mention. It is supposed to be upon this plant that
the arctic hare and grouse and very likely the musk
ox mainly subsist, and it is known to grow as far to
the north as arctic explorers have gone, and prob-
ably goes to the pole itself, if there are lands there.

As regards the arctic fauna, they are of course,
like the flora, comparatively few in number; besides
the beasts of prey, such as the polar bear ( Ursus Mari-
timus], which lives mostly on seals and fish, the arctic
fox ( Vulpes Lagopus], and the marten (MustetaJSrmtm'a),
there are the reindeer (Tarandus Rangifer], the musk
ox ( Ovibos Moschatus\ the arctic hare (Lepus Glacialis),
and the lemming (My odes Torquatus], each of which
deserves a short passing notice at our hands.

From our earliest days, the picture of the Lapp, in
his robes of fur, drawn in his sledge by reindeer across
the snowy wastes, has been present to all our imagina-

278 LAPLANDERS AND REINDEER.

tions, and large herds of these useful animals are still
kept by these primitive people throughout the arctic
provinces of Europe, much as cattle are kept in Eng-
land. During the summer they mostly retire to the
higher fjelds, but in autumn and early winter are often
seen in considerable numbers near the coast, accom-
panied by herds of deer. The reindeer is to the Lapp
what the buffalo was to the Prairie Indian of America,
and what the camel still is to the Arab — a friend, a
beast of burden, and the source from whence nearly
all their needs are supplied, as for instance, milk,
cheese, butter and meat, while its skin supplies house
and clothing, and its sinews thread to sew with.

In Spitzbergen countless thousands of wild ones still
exist, and large numbers are annually killed for their
skins. So numerous do reindeer still continue to
be there, in spite of the waste of life caused by
the inroads of Russian and Norwegian hunters, that
it is supposed that their ranks must be recruited by
fresh herds descending during the early part of the
winter from some unknown continent, existing to the
northwards, amid the solitudes of the Palceocrys-
tic seas.

There are a number of circumstances which seem
to point to the probability of such a territory being in
existence, many of these apparently wild deer appearing
to have their ears cut off at the same level, as if it
were the work of men, done for the purpose of mark-
ing their own stock, and in a way that is different to
the practice of any known tribe on the mainland of
Europe or Asia. There is also the known immobility
of the ice barrier to the eastward of Spitzbergen, which
would enable deer to travel across the sea in that

SPITZBERGEN REINDEER. 279

direction, while it would of course act as an effectual
check against the entrance of ships ; moreover the
broken and hummocky nature of the ice field has
hitherto to a great extent baffled the efforts of sledging
parties to penetrate any very great distance among
this ancient ice, though such difficulties would probably
not be sufficient to stop the advance of migratory deer.
There are the further facts of flights of birds being
observed coming from the north east, which is of itself
a strong indication of the existence of land somewhere
in that quarter, and also the occurrence of stained and
dirty ice also seen in that direction, apparently as if
it had been in contact with the land : all of these
"together with other minor considerations, of a more
general character," * according to the Encyclopaedia
Britannica, seem strongly to support this theory, of the
truth of which the Spitzbergen hunters are, it states,
strongly persuaded, so much so that they feel con-
fident these great herds do descend, as stated, from
some unknown continent, situated in a north-easterly
direction.

The Spitzbergen group itself consists of six large
and a number of smaller islands, the chief of them
being West Spitzbergen, which has an area of nearly
15,200 square miles, and which is mostly of a moun-
tainous character, high mountains reaching 4560 feet
covering its southern part, f The whole of the Spitz-
bergen group are, however, of a very barren, rocky
nature, and therefore to all appearance unable to afford
subsistence to the immense herds of deer which have
been met with there. At first sight it would certainly

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xxii, p. 409. (Art. "Spitzbergen").
t Ibid., p. 408.

2 So QUESTION OF INHABITED POLAR LANDS.

seem to be improbable that a supposed inhabited
continent, better able to support large herds of heavy
game, should exist still further to the northward,
while Spitzbergen should be itself uninhabited, as it
is, except during the summer time, when the sealers
and hunters temporarily resort there.

Nevertheless, on account of the increased length of
the period during which the midnight sun continues
above the horizon, as the pole is approached, it is not
impossible that lands may exist in that direction which
might enjoy a richer vegetation than that existing in
Spitzbergen, where the soil is all barren rock and
gravel ; while at the same time the condition of the ice
is sufficient to account for the failure of explorers to
discover these territories, should they have any
•existence.

It must also be borne in mind that we know little
or nothing of the habits of animals inhabiting these
far northern regions, or of the means by which they
find subsistence. All we know is that such animals
do exist. Yet it looks as if there was nothing for
them to eat, and as if every living thing overtaken
there by the winter must of necessity die of starva-
tion. We shall, however, hope to show that this is
an entire misapprehension of the facts.

In Spitzbergen, for instance, multitudes of reindeer
undoubtedly exist, of such magnificent proportions that,
according to Professor Nordenskiold, who had ample
opportunities of observing them, their " forms appeared
colossal when contrasted with the tame reindeer the
Swedes are accustomed to. " * Yet these splendid animals

* Arctic Voyages of the Vega, by Professor A. E. Nordenskiold, Trans-
lated by Alex. Leslie, 1881, p. 199.

FAT REINDEER IN SPITZBERGEN. 281

not only exist but flourish and grow exceedingly fat
upon these apparently completely barren shores, which
seem in many places entirely destitute of vegetation.
Upon the first arrival of the hunters, at the begin-
ning of the summer, the deer which have passed the
winter in Spitzbergen are found to be thin and in
poor condition, but though " much emaciated in June,
they grow very fat towards the end of the autumn,
after feeding on the mosses." *

With regard to this, Professor Nordenskiold says,
that "two were shot early in October 1872, by the
Swedish Polar Expedition, with the carcase covered
with a thick layer of fat," while in the month of Sep-
tember these splendid deer "resemble fat cattle, and
have their flesh so surrounded with fat, that it is nearly
uneatable." f

These are remarkable facts which it would seem
hard to account for, but the Professor goes on to
observe that the well known reindeer moss (Cladonia
Rangiferind], the natural food of these deer, grows "in
large quantities under the snow in Spitzbergen, and other
high latitudes: and when reindeer can get this they
require no other food. " § That being so an immediate
explanation of this apparently strange phenomenon
is at once supplied, as it is exactly upon these
bare rocks and stones that this curious nutritive lichen
thrives best. It is called a moss, but it is really a
true lichen, ** and from its silver-grey stone colour it
is not easily seen afar off, as it much resembles the
colour of the surrounding rock. It is only on walking

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edit., Vol. xxii., p. 409.

f Arctic Voyages of the Vega, by Professor Nordenskiold, 1881, p. 199.

§ Ibid.

** See Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xiv, p. 560. (Art. "Lichens").

282 MANAGEMENT OF LAPP REINDEER.

among rocks covered by it that one sees that they are
carpeted with a thick cohering of this plant, which a
stranger ignorant of its nature would certainly never
imagine to be an excellent and nourishing food.

Reindeer are also known to be animals of a very
migratory nature. The tame Lapp deer, for instance,
has to be constantly changing its feeding grounds,
and the habits of their owners have to be governed
by the necessities of their deer. In summer, for instance,
like the Swiss shepherds, the Laplanders go up with
their deer to the high fjelds, and as pasturage becomes
scarce gradually descend to the lowlands, to wherever
wild land is to be found, and move down as the winter
advances to more southern districts, while later on
during spring tney go to the neighbourhood of the
sea. It is said that these tame deer can " draw about
300 Ibs. and are able to travel without difficulty 100
miles a day over the frozen snow, their broad, deeply-
cleft hoofs being admirably adapted for travelling over
such a surface." * We can thus understand how it
would be possible for them to travel quickly from
the far North, though men encumbered with heavily
laden sledges might not be able to make much
headway.

The Caribou, or wild American variety (Rangifer
Caribou) is likewise known to migrate in vast herds
into the northern wilds during summer, returning
again in winter to more temperate regions, and the
Hudson Bay Voyageurs relate wonderful stories of the
almost incredible distances they will accomplish in the
24 hours. Mr. Warburton Pike, who witnessed one of
their migrations in October i88g, from the barren

* See Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. vii., p. 24. (Art. "Deer").

CARIBOU MIGRATIONS. 283

grounds of Northern Canada, has given a most graphic
description of the scene, which occurred near the great
Slave Lake. Scattered bands were almost continually
in sight from its commencement, he says, which rapidly
increased in numbers until October 2oth, when he was
aroused by his men with a cry of " La Foule — La
Foule ! " The great army of migratory deer were
indeed upon them, having suddenly arrived like a thief
in the night.

"We could hear (he says) the clatter made by a band of
travelling caribou. * La Foule ' had really come,, and during
its passage of six days, I was able to realize what an extra-
ordinary number of these animals still roam in the barren
grounds. All the south side of Mackay Lake (a sheet of
water to the north of the Slave Lake) was alive with moving
beasts, while the ice seemed dotted over with black islands,
and still far away on the north shore, with the aid of glasses,
we could see them coming like regiments of infantry on
the march. The snow was broken into broad roads, and I
found it useless to try and estimate the number that passed
within a few miles of our encampment. The buffalo were
all, for the most part, killed out before my time, but notwith-
standing the tall stories that are told of their numbers. I can-
not believe that the herds on the prairie ever surpassed in
size 'La Foule' of the Caribou." *

These great migrations among wild animals are strange
and remarkable phenomena, which occur in almost
every part of the world where large areas of wild
lands exist. Sometimes they are caused, as in these
far northern regions, by the rigour of the climate; at
other times, as in arid countries bordering on the
tropics, they are caused by the drying up of the

* The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by Warburton Pike,
1892, pp. 82, 83.

284 CAUSES OF MIGRATION AMONG QUADRUPEDS.

waters. The great migrations of the buffalo to which
Mr. Pike alludes and which formed such wonderful
spectacles in former days, probably arose from both
these causes, while the still more marvellous migrations
of the springbok, in South Africa, were undoubtedly
due to the failure of the water supply and the drying
up and withering of the vegetation. In equatorial
regions, again, very often it is the fly which drives
everything before it, as effectually as the descent of
the arctic snows. But it is probable that wonderful
as these migrations of mighty herds of game animals
certainly are, they really, if we look at the matter
aright, are far surpassed as curious natural phenomena,
by the still more remarkable migrations of birds which
literally seem to traverse the broad surface of the earth,
by land and sea, from the equator to the poles.

The migrations of animals can almost always be
traced to some self-evident cause, such as the imper-
ative necessity for a move, created by some of the
causes we have mentioned above ; and in our sections
on forest and jungle shooting, and hunting and
stalking on plains, we hope to be able to quote a
number of striking examples of such cases. But
the causes which impel the migrations of birds
are much more complex in their origin, so that it is
not always easy to assign a reason which accounts
satisfactorily for the immense flights periodically un-
dertaken by some of these frail and tiny creatures.

Why should the swallow, for instance, which is seen
throughout the winter in the interior of Africa, at the
Cape of Good Hope, Australia, New Zealand, etc.,
suddenly wing its way as far north as Lapland and
even to the stormy coasts of the arctic seas? The

ARCTIC BIRD MIGRATIONS. 285

fly-line of this migratory bird is estimated by orni-
thologists as extending for distances varying from
7000 to 10,000 miles. *

Why should the wild goose, as soon as the first
indications of spring begin to appear, take its flight
from places where food is abundant, and fly towards
the polar seas, arriving there with the first movement
of the ice, and keep pushing on further and further
to the north, amid the regions of eternal snow, wher-
ever a patch of open water may appear, until, as
far as human knowledge goes, it seems probable they
may possibly reach the pole itself?

It is generally supposed that they are inspired by
an instinctive desire to be able to rear their young
in safety, amid these icy solitudes, far from the reach
of human or other enemies. But are there not vast
areas of wild land much further south where, in a
less rigorous climate, they migiit rest as securely as
at the pole itself? It will be apparent that in neither
of these cases, can the search for food, the flight
from the reach of possible enemies, nor the fear of
heat or cold, quite account for the vast flights which
these birds undertake ; seeing that all these objects
would be obtainable elsewhere with much less labour
and difficulty, and a far less distant flight.

Now it is specially in the Arctic Zone that these curi-
ous phenomena, respecting the distant migrations of
bird life, can be witnessed on the most extensive scale
and under the most peculiar circumstances.

During the long night of an arctic winter, these
dreary regions are, with some few notable exceptions,

* See The Migration of flirds—A.n Attempt to reduce Avian Season-
Flight to Law. By Charles Dixon, 1891, p. 57.

286 BIRDS FLYING ON APPROACH OF WINTER.

which we shall endeavour to deal with presently,
entirely abandoned by almost every kind of feathered
fowl. When the great snows of autumn begin to fall,
and frost has laid its iron grasp upon the waters, fast
closing them for a period of many months — want of
food, and even of water, as a general rule, forces these
visitors to seek refuge from the rigours of the winter,
in the milder climates of the south. But no sooner
does the sun reappear than they are back again, seek-
ing an entry into the northern wilds, and patiently
waiting for the appearance of open water; and in
summer time, certain land areas of the great arctic
wilderness would form a regular hunter's paradise
were it nor for the intolerable plague of mosquitoes,
and other flies, which infest it. The vast numbers of
birds of many kinds that then resort to these regions,
have been noted with astonishment by most travellers
who visit arctic lands; and among the first and
chiefest arrivals among the birds, we may mention
the arctic geese.

On the eastern seaboard of North America many
of the geese winter as far south as the southern coasts
of the United States — the Chesapeake for instance in
its central parts has always been a celebrated resort
for wild fowl of almost every kind, but with the open-
ing of spring the g-eese are back as far north as
Canada again. In New Brunswick for instance, " they
make their first appearance about March 17, and remain
till the end of May, when they fly to their northern
nesting grounds." * Cotemporaneously with these
migrations of the geese upon the eastern coasts, the

* The Emigrant and Sportsman in Canada. Experiences of an Old
Settler, by John J. Rowan, 1876, pp. 112, 113.

MIGRATIONS OF WILD GEESE. 287

same process is going on across the whole breadth of
the great North American continent; for on the great
lakes on the Upper Mississippi, and throughout the Hud-
son Bay territories, the month of May and early part of
June is annually marked by the simultaneous flight
towards the northward of numerous flocks of wild geese. *
These birds mostly consist of the varieties known as the
Brent goose (BerniclaBrenta), the Bernicle (BerniclaLeu-
copsis], the large Canadian goose (Bernicla Canadensis],
the snow goose (Anser Hyperboreus), and the White-
fronted or Laughing Goose (Anser Albifrons). When
in the Hudson Bay Territory some thirty years ago, we
were informed by the Company's officers that both in
autumn and spring the migratory flights of these
birds often continued without interruption for days
together. They generally fly by easy stages, settling
down for rest, either upon the ground, or upon open
water, where vast flocks, many thousands in number,
may sometimes be seen herded together; the extra-
ordinary noise they make on these occasions is some-
times almost deafening; at other times it resembles
the sound of an immense pack of hounds in full cry.
Should anything disturb them, the sound of their
myriad wings, as the whole flock suddenly takes to
flight, exactly resembles a roll of muffled thunder;
while a vast volume of discordant cries fills the whole
air, and is often audible for miles away, as the great
assemblage sails away upon its distant journey. The
different kinds of geese generally keep together as
much as possible, and their flights therefore vary a

* See with reference to the Great Migrations near the great Slave
Lake, The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by Warburton Pike,
1892, p. 161.

288 VAST FLOCKS OF WILD GEESE.

good deal in point of time, some kinds arriving earlier
than the others.

Among the earliest arrivals of the northern geese,
the Brent is always conspicuous, and it is probable
that these birds go all the way to the pole, if there
is any land there, which appears to be almost certain,
judging by the constant flights of these and other
birds towards the far north, beyond the furthest limits
ever yet attained by man. Sir George Nares for
instance mentions that in 1876 parties of Brent geese
arrived in the vicinity of the winter quarters of the
Alert, as far north as Lat. 82° 33' N., in the first
week in June, but they were very wary, and kept
well out of shot; and on the 2ist he states that a nest
was seen. * A little later, " on August 4th, 5 7 goslings
which had not yet learned to fly, were shot by the
expedition, f Concerning the migrations of geese in the
antarctic regions, of course we know comparatively
little, but enough is known to show almost beyond a
doubt that similar great migrations of these birds take
place there on an enormous scale. The incredible
numbers that used to frequent the Falkland Islands,
during quite recent years, for instance, is a matter of
ascertained historical fact ; we are however indebted to
Mr. Hudson for the latest account of the autumn arrivals
of migratory geese upon the Rio Negro, on the bor-
ders of Patagonia. The arrival there early in winter
of vast flights of the Upland geese ( Chloephaga Magel-
licana) was, he says, positively dreaded by the people ;
for it is scarcely possible to keep them from the cul-

* Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir Geo. Nares,
R.N., 1878, Vol. ii.. p. 216.
f Ibid., Vol. ii., p. 124.

GREAT MIGRATIONS OF ANTARCTIC GEESE. 289

tivated fields; the injury they do to pasture lands is
even more extensive, for the geese

" are often so numerous as to denude the earth, thus depriv-
ing the sheep of their food. On some estates (he continues)
mounted boys were kept, driving up the flocks with loud
shouts, but their labours were profitless: fresh armies of
geese, on their way north, were continually pouring in, mak-
ing a vast camping ground of the valley, till scarcely a blade
of grass remained." *

In the northern hemisphere the arrival of the geese
in the arctic regions is quickly followed by the ap-
pearance of innumerable flocks of birds of various de-
scriptions, which are for the most part arriving after
migratory flights of many thousand miles, to rest amid
these northern wilds. For a considerable distance after
crossing the arctic circle, the barren grounds which
extend in this region right across the great continents
of Europe, Asia and America, are known to consist
for the most part of lakes and swampy moorlands;
and except in Greenland there is also, in all these
lands adjacent to the arctic circle, an immense area
of country dotted over here and there by dense thickets
of bush, which affords admirable shelter for the numerous
feathered tribes of land birds, which in addition to the
myriads of water-fowl, arrive in such numbers that the
Arctic Zone at this season becomes a veritable museum
of natural history for the ornithologist; while it also
oifers a comparatively untouched, and almost boundless
field of investigation to the botanist.

The transmutation which is produced by the sudden
break-up of the arctic winter, and the almost imme-
diate change to summer, is of so rapid and wonderful

* Idle Days in Patagonia, by W. H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S., 1893, p. 61.
VOL. II. 19

2 QO BREAK-UP OF THE ARCTIC WINTER.

a nature, that it is certain that no other phenomena
in Nature can be compared to it. Ever since the
settlement of civilized man upon its banks, for instance,
the breaking up of the ice upon the St. Lawrence has
proved a constant source of never-failing wonder to
the whole Canadian population ; and from time to time
a multitude of writers have vainly endeavoured to
give an adequate description of its grandeur ; and yet
what is the break-up of the ice upon a single river,
when compared to the mighty, and almost simultaneous
revolution of Nature, which takes place every spring
over the whole extent of the southern portion of the
arctic ocean, and the numerous great rivers which
flow into it?

To what shall we attribute this stupendous convulsion
of whose magnitude the human mind can hardly realize
the faintest idea?

Are we to seek for an explanation of it through a
combination of several causes, or must we regard it
merely as the result of the sun's rays shining upon
the arctic solitudes after a perpetual night of some
months' duration?

We know that on the American plains for example,
as long as the wind is from the north, and the
temperature in consequence keeps low, there may be
very powerful sunshine for many days in succession,
without doing more than merely encrusting the surface
of the snow with a thin film of ice. We are inclined
to think therefore, that great though the sun's influence
in this respect may be, it would be insufficient of
itself alone to produce this sudden and marvellous
change, which we believe is principally due to a change
of wind which produces a rapid rise in the temperature

SLIGHT EFFECTS OF SUNSHINE ON SNOWS. 291

of the Avhole atmosphere, while the existence of con-
tinuous day prevents the refrigeration which would
otherwise occur by night, and thus, when the southern
wind blows softly, the great disruption of the northern
ice is brought about.

We ought here to make a short digression from
our narrative to say a few words upon the scientific
aspects of snow in its effects upon climate. Rains,
as we know, produce no permanent effects upon
temperature; in cold countries especially, their effects
soon pass away, as the water runs off — and in no
case, however heavy may be the rainfall, do they
produce any permanent rise in the general level of
the waters. But the effect of snow on the other hand,
is constantly cumulative, so long as it continues to
fall. A. very heavy and long continued snow-fall may
in this way therefore accumulate in such masses that
the warmth of the whole of the following summer
may be unable to melt it. This occurs upon high
mountains all over the world, where a regular line of
perpetual snow becomes more or less constant. In
the tropics for instance, this may, as we have shown,
be roughly located at an elevation of about 16,000 feet
above sea level.

When this takes place, as Mr. Wallace has pointed
out, cold is rendered permanent, no amount of sun-
heat prevailing to warm the air, or earth, much above
freezing-point.

" The quantity of heat (he goes on to explain) required to
melt ice or snow is very great. To melt I cubic foot of ice,
as much heat is required as would heat a cubic foot of water
from the freezing point to 176° Fahr., and to melt a layer of
ice only \\ inches thick, requires as much heat as would

2Q2 SOME OF THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF SNOW.

raise a stratum of air, 800 feet thick, from freezing point to
the tropical heat of 88° Fahr." *

Masses of heavy snow therefore are possessed of
great immobility, and melt but slowly under the action
of sunshine in consequence of their great power of
reflecting heat, and so dispersing it into the atmo-
sphere; so much so, that even in Great Britain, after
winters when the snowfall has been exceptionally
heavy, and drifts of considerable depth have formed
in sheltered places, among hills, unmelted patches of
snow are sometimes visible well on into the spring.
This permanent storing up of cold in the form of
snow is therefore capable, under certain circumstances,
of producing extraordinary effects in the physical
geography and climate of countries, as is at present
exemplified in the constantly snow-covered condition
of Greenland and of South Georgia and Sandwich
Island in the South Pacific; while other places con-
siderably nearer to the pole possess a vegetation of
comparative and even extreme luxuriance, though their
summers are necessarily shorter, and also the cold of
the winters probably more intense. The permanent
storing up of cold therefore, Mr. Wallace has pointed
out,

" depends entirely on the annual amount of snowfall in
proportion to heat, and not on the actual cold of the winter,
or even the average cold of the year. A place may be in-
tensely cold in winter, yet if little snow falls there is nothing
to prevent the summer being hot, and the earth producing
luxurious vegetation." f

There are however some northern countries where

* Island Life or Insidar Faunas and Floras and Geological Climates^
by Alfred R. Wallace, 1880, p. 30.
f Ibid., p. 30.

MARVELLOUS EFFECTS OF THE SOUTH WIND. 293

the snow lies deep, and the rivers are all fast closed
by ice of great thickness. And was all this amount
of stored-up cold suffered to remain until it disappeared
under the influence of sunshine, it is to be feared
that vast areas would become buried like Greenland
under a permanent ice cap. In these cases the
release of the land from the iron grip of winter is
undoubtedly due to the setting in of warm winds,
which act which almost magical power in producing
the mighty upheaval of the ice-closed rivers and the
melting of the great snow drifts.

Mr. Seebohm, in his account of the break-up of the
winter in eastern Siberia has supplied us with a
striking description of this great event, which was
witnessed by him in 1882, upon the Yenesay River,
a gigantic stream some three or four miles wide,
which there flows into the Arctic Ocean.

" Early in June (he says) the sun only touches the horizon
at midnight, and for a few days you have the anomaly of
unbroken day in midwinter. Then comes the south wind;
and often rain ; and the great event of the year takes place —
the ice on the great rivers breaks up; and the blanket of
snow melts away." *

With reference to the immediate and almost miraculous
change thus brought about, Mr. Seebohm states his
opinions about it in these words, to which we think
it unnecessary to add a single observation:

" This sudden change, in the space of a fortnight, from
midwinter to midsummer, can (he observes) scarcely be called
spring. It is a revolution of Nature, so imposing, that the
most prosaic of observers cannot witness it without feeling its

* Siberia in Asia : a Visit to the Valley of the Yenesay in East
Siberia, with a description of the Natural History etc., by Henry Seebohm,
1882, p. 192.

294 SUDDEN CHANGE FROM WINTER TO SUMMER.

sublimity. The white snow seems to be an invulnerable
shield against which the sun-darts glance harmless, and are
reflected back into the air. On the contrary the south wind
seems all powerful. In the midst of mist and cold, the snow
melts before it like butter upon hot toast ; and winter tumbles
down like a pack of cards." *

And yet, he says, this wonderful transformation,
u the silent upheaval of the gigantic river four miles
wide, and the smash up of the six feet of ice upon
it, " is to his mind surpassed in interest, and as a
marvellous phenomenon of Nature, by the arrival of
the migratory birds. Until then, these snow-clad
wilds are deserted by almost every trace of life, and
silent as the grave; but all at once, like a shift of
scenery upon the stage of a theatre, the wilderness is
now made bright with the bursting forth of verdure
and the general resurrection of vegetable life; whilst
on every side the voice of the bird is heard filling
each copse and thicket with melody; and covering
every newly formed pool of water, with multitudes of
these graceful creatures. The breaking up of the ice
is indeed a majestic display of power, " but for all
that (says Mr. Seebohm) the arrival of the migratory
birds so suddenly, and in such countless numbers,
appeals more forcibly to the imagination, perhaps be-
cause it is more mysterious." f

The first rush of these migrants takes place the very
moment the ice and snow begins to melt, and " every
little oasis of land in the vast desert of snow is soon
full of birds " — first a few pairs, rapidly succeeded by

* Siberia in Asia : a Visit to the Valley of the Yenesay in East
Siberia, with a description of the Natural History, migration of birds, etc.,
by Henry Seebohm, 1882, pp. 100, 101.

f Ibid., p. 193.

ARRIVAL OF THE BIRDS. 295

large flocks of almost every kind of fowl. It would
be too long" to attempt anything more than a de-
scription of them in the most general terms: — there
were wagtails, willow warblers, chiffchaffs, thrushes,
ouzels, bramblings, white-fronted geese, cuckoos,
snipe, plovers, pipits, bullfinches, besides a vast variety
of water-fowl and sea birds of every description. *

" The revolution in the ice (says Mr. Seebohm) took place
to the accompaniment of a perfect babel of birds. Above our
heads we continually heard the 'gag-gag' of geese and the
harsh bark of swans, as flock after flock hurried past us to
the Tundra. Where there was a little water between the ice
floes, crowds of gulls were fishing; while ever and anon the
weird cries of the black-throated and red-throated divers came
from the creek; flocks of wild ducks also passed, and along
the shore, small birds flitted from bush to bush." f

These brief extracts culled from the thoughtful work
of Mr. Seebohm, present to the mind's eye a wonder-
ful picture of the great spring migration in the
Yenesay region, even had it stood alone: but it must
be remembered that we are here recording merely
the experiences of a single man stationed at a single
point in the immensity of these great northern
solitudes; and that the same process is simultaneously
going on almost everywhere throughout the wide
expanse of each of the great continents of the
northern hemisphere; though it may be that the
fly-lines along the courses of great rivers may be
more largely used by birds than other places — still
the flights that may frequently be seen going across

* Siberia in Asia : a Visit to the Valley of the Yenesay in East
Siberia, with a description of the Natural History, migration of birds, etc.,
by Henry Seebohm, 1882, pp. 102 — in.

f Ibid., pp. 96, 97.

296 BIRD MIGRANTS ON THE YENESAY.

country show that these migrations are, as we have
said, in progress over almost the whole country generally,
and are as general (if we may venture to use the
simile) as the snow-flakes which fall over vast areas,
during the occurrence of extensive atmospheric disturb-
ances.

We have already noticed certain facts which prove
that these migrations occur in both the arctic and
antarctic regions, so far as the evidence of facts upon
the American continent is concerned, and it would be
possible to collect evidence to show that in all proba-
bility they take place periodically almost everywhere
upon the whole terrestrial surface of the globe. * Exact
observations upon these and similar matters are how-
ever as yet comparatively scanty ; as it is only of late
years that these interesting phenomena have been made
the subject of systematic investigation.

In the first place, the flight of migratory birds takes
place for the most part by night, when their move-
ments are not easily observed. It frequently occurs
that the only evidence of their passing above is the
sound of their different call notes; and even in the
daytime the vast altitude at which they fly frequently
renders anything like exact observations impossible,
for it seems probable and indeed certain that many of the
smaller species pass at such great heights above the earth
that under the most favourable circumstances they
are entirely beyond the range of human vision, f

It is probable that a number of causes combine to
induce birds to ascend to these great heights during

* In Australia and other southern lands for instance, enormous
flights of wild-fowl are constantly seen during their autumns and springs.

f The Migration of Birds, an Attempt to reduce Avian Season Flight
to Law, by Charles Dixon, 1892, p. 71.

MIGRATORY FLIGHTS AT GREAT ALTITUDE. 297

their migratory flights. Among others, the desire to
conceal their movements, and place themselves above
the usual haunts of birds of prey, and other enemies;
then again, the stiller, and cooler condition of the
higher atmosphere, and the fact that birds flying at
great altitudes can see to much greater distances
ahead, are doubtless all causes which influence their
movements. Mr. Dixon, in his valuable monograph on
the migration of birds, expresses himself strongly im-
pressed with this view, and says,

" In my opinion the vast importance of altitude in migration
has never been recognised. Without considerable altitude
the migration of many birds would be simply impossible, and
that most birds fly unusally high during migration is, I think,
an unquestionable fact."* "The mere mechanical labour of
flight is rendered much easier of performance in the more
rarified atmosphere of these lofty regions of space. The
currents of air at great altitudes may also be more uniform
and favourable." f "The more I study migration," Mr.
Dixon proceeds to say, " the more I feel convinced that
there is a nocturnal drama in the air, of which only a faint
conception of its wonders can be formed by terrestrial scrutiny.
Many a time, the only sign on earth that a great migration
is in progress is by hearing the varied and often repeated
notes, sounding faintly from on high, as the armies of birds
pass on in the darkness overhead." §

The punctuality with which these periodical flights
are accomplished, almost upon the very same day,
each season as it comes round, is also one of their
most extraordinary and remarkable features; and we
need make no apology to our readers for transcribing

The Migration of Birds, an Attempt to reduce Avian Season
Flight to Law, by Charles Dixon, 1892, p. 77, 78.
f Ibid., p. 83.
§ Ibid., p. 85.

298 PUNCTUAL ARRIVAL OF BIRD] MIGRANTS.

another paragraph from Mr. Dixon's interesting work
with respect to it:

" The punctuality of arrivals of birds (he says) at their sum-
mer or winter quarters is nothing less than astonishing. Tak-
ing into account the length of the journey, and the consequent
number and variety of possible causes of delay ; the best kept
time of the crack expresses, or fastest ocean steamers, abso-
lutely sufters by comparison. The one hour late in the 200
miles run of an express, or the 24, in the 5000 miles voy-
age of a steamer, is certainly a far worse record than the
one day late in the 5000 miles, or the couple of days in
10,000 miles flight of a bird, at the mercy of countless con-
tingencies neither the train nor the boat have to battle with.
And yet, this is a simple statement of facts. Migratory birds
may be looked for almost to the day, as anyone can prove,
by keeping a record during a series of years." *

There can we think be little doubt that these ob-
servations of Mr. Dixon are strictly borne out by fact,
and that not only do the birds beat the best human
records in point of punctuality, but also enormously
exceed them in rapidity. We have been at some
pains to look up the latest reliable data which have
been recorded with respect to the highest speed as
yet attained by trains; which, on the authority of The
Scientific American, we find is given at 112.5 miles
per hour, accomplished by the New York " Empire
State Express," and that it was hoped shortly to
beat that record by running a mile in thirty seconds, f
that would be 120 miles per hour. But these great
speeds, we need hardly say, are only kept up for
short distances, on a selected stretch of perfectly level

* The Migration of Birds, an Attempt to reduce Avian Season
Flight to Law, by Charles Dixon, 1892, pp. 71, 72.
| Engineer (London) of June 2, 1893, p. 471.

SPEED OF BIRD FLIGHTS AND EXPRESS TRAINS. 299

line, as a sort of advertisement for the railway—
whereas the flight of birds is kept up hour after hour,
at infinitely higher rates of speed.

We fear there are no means available for stating
authoritatively what these speeds are, with any degree
of accuracy; but it is generally considered that for
some of the stronger birds from 100 to 200 miles an
hour is by no means uncommon ; and that the highest
of these speeds is exceeded by some birds.

Thus, Herr Gatke, whose splendid work on " The Birds
of Heligoland" ought to be in the library of every
lover of natural history, considers that a speed of up
to 216 miles per hour has been attained by the
Virginian Plover (Charadrius Virginicus), and a velocity
of 1 80 miles an hour by a small song-bird of un-
common beauty, and coming nearly up to the night-
ingale in the tunefulness of its song, the Northern
Bluethroat (Sylvia Suecica [Linn.])." * According to the
same authority, large flocks of the Virginian Plover
annually perform an unbroken flight of 3000 miles
and upwards, from Brazil to Labrador, across a con-
tinuous surface of ocean ; their migration columns
being constantly seen passing Bermuda, containing
countless thousands of birds, f

There are however other authorities on ornithological
science who assert that these enormous flight-speeds
are much exaggerated and who regard the arguments
in their favour as based on fallacious data. All that

* Heligoland as an Ornithological Observatory. The result of 50
years experience by Heinrich Gatke, translated from the German by
Rudolph Rosenstock, 1895, pp. 266 and 470, 471.

N.B. — Many valuable details upon the subject of Bird Migrations
occur in this work, well deserving of being richly studied.

f The Naturalist in Bermuda, by J. M. Jones.

300 THE SPEED ATTAINED BY SOME BIRDS.

we shall venture to say on this head is, that the
opponents of the high speed theory are met with
difficulties quite as great as those which beset its
supporters. The evidence for and against these rival
claims has been shortly and well summarized in a let-
ter which appeared in The Field newspaper, as follows :

" Take the case of the Blue Throat— if it does not
go at the alleged rate of miles per hour, it must be
capable of a sustained flight of some 40 hours — quite
as incredible a statement as that with regard to speed.
Again, with the plovers that are not found anywhere
on the American coast between Labrador and Brazil
— 3000 miles — at what rate is this carried out? By
diminishing the speed we get into the difficulty of time.
A bird may possibly be able to float for days in the air,
without food or rest, but if so, that is at least as startling
a novelty as Herr Gatke's extraordinary speeds." *

It is in fact obvious that if (at least) 3000 miles of
ocean has to be crossed at the high speed of 2 1 6 miles
per hour, it will take 14^- hours, or thereabouts to
accomplish the journey ; whereas if the bird only flies
at the rate of 50 miles an hour, it will require 60
hours to perform the same distance. We leave the
reader therefore to form his own conclusions, as to
which side the balance of probabilities seems to incline.

The destruction of life among the feathered tribes
during their migrations is, as might be expected,
enormous. When we say that, it conveys, we fear,
but a very vague idea of what those few words
import: or of the countless myriads of these graceful
and delicate creatures which meet their deaths by it.

* Extract letter signed T. M. Pike in The Field of Nov. 23, 1895,
P. 833-

MORTALITY AMONG BIRD MIGRANTS. 301

As Mr. Dixon points out, the death-rate of a large
town standing at 50 or 60 per 1000, creates something
like a panic among its human inhabitants (the
average death-rate of London for the whole year
for instance is only 19.7 per 1000 *); but Mr. Dixon
thinks " there can be no doubt whatever that the
death-rate among birds, during migration, reaches 500
or 600 per 1000, and during exceptional circumstances
very much more," and "few there be that survive
it." f Indeed of the innumerable legions of birds
which leave their nesting grounds in the Arctic Zone,
and fly towards the south at the approach of winter,
but a small percentage survives to revisit them the
following year. " Only a fragment of these bird
swarms (Mr. Dixon thinks), countless, one was going
to say, as the sands on the shore, returns in spring." §

The perils of migration, according to the same
authority, may be divided into three important classes.
Fatigue, natural enemies, and blunders and fatalities
by the way; of which probably the first is the most
fatal ; but for further details on this subject we must
refer the reader to Mr. Dixon's monograph.

We have gone into details with reference to the
migration of birds in this section, because we think
that it is in the Arctic Zone that peculiar
opportunities exist for investigating this subject, and
because it is these high latitudes that are the objective
of the longest flights performed by migratory birds;
in accordance with the law now almost universally
recognised among ornithologists, that " as a general

* Returns issued by the Registrar General for the year ending Sep-
tember 26, 1892.

t See The Migrations of Birds, by Charles Dixon, 1892, pp. 168, 169.
§ Ibid.^ p. 159.

302 BIRD LIFE IN LAPLAND.

rule amongst regular migrants, the further North a
bird goest to breed, the further South it goes to
winter." * Both Mr. Seebohm and Mr. Dixon enter
into numerous details to prove the truth of this
assertion — which is held by both of them to be
strictly in accordance with known facts; but space
forbids us to do more than to indicate the works of
these authors, to which the reader may refer for further
information on the subject, f

To many persons it may appear a matter of surprise
that delicate creatures such as many birds are known
to be — as for instance the swallow, and the sand-martin —
should in many cases seek a home, to rear their tender
nestlings, amid the rigours of an arctic climate ; it
must however be remembered that the brief period of
summer there is like the bloom upon a youthful
cheek, very beautiful and attractive, though fleeting.
More than 160 years ago for instance, the great Linnaeus,
in the journal of his tour in Lapland, recorded his
impressions of the climate in these words—
"June 24, 1732. Midsummer's Day. Blessed be the Lord
for the beauty of summer, and of spring, and for what is
here in greater perfection than almost anywhere else in the
world : the air, the water, the verdure of the herbage, and
the song of birds." §

So also nearly 150 years afterwards, Mr. H. W.
Wheelwright, after alluding to the beauty of the scenery,

* The Geographical Distribution of the Family Charadriidce or
the Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and their Allies, by Henry Seebohm,
1888, p. 36.

•j- Some further details respecting bird migrations will be found in
Chapter xviii on Wild Fowl and Wild Fowl Shooting in Vol. iii.

§ Lachesis Lapponica, by Carl von Linnaeus, translated by Dr. J. E.
Smith, M.D., President of the Linnsean Society of London, 1811,
Vol. i., p. 244.

PERMANENT RESIDENTS OF THE POLAR ZONE. 303

and the vast quantities of bird life still existing in this
same region, says:

" Never did I see in any country so much game as in
Lapland. The shooter need only wander a few miles from
the village (Quickjock) and I am certain that on any day
he will be able to shoot more game than he can carry home.
For capercailzie, hazel grouse, and willow grouse, the shooter
can hardly go wrong. Every fell literally swarms with ptar-
migan, dotterel, golden plover, and mountain hare. For flap-
per shooting in July, Lapland would be hard to beat, for
this country is the great breeding ground of half the wild fowl
in Europe. Scoter, velvet duck, scaup duck, golden eye,
pintail, widgeon, wild swan, bean, and white-fronted geese,
flock in hundreds as soon as the ice breaks up to these
northern wilds, where they can breed in security far from
the haunts of man." *

The more delicate and smaller birds are somewhat
later arrivals than these hardy northern wildfowl; but
they were there, however, in thousands, just as Mr.
Seebohm describes them to have been in North-east
Siberia, notwithstanding the intensely rigorous nature
of its climate.

Thus far we have confined our observations prin-
cipally to the migratory birds, which are visitors during
a brief period of the year to the arctic regions; caus-
ing these solitudes to appear replete with numerous
beautiful forms of life, and glad with merry voices of
birds. There are however certain kinds of birds and
animals which make their permanent home there, and
winter amid the drifting snows.

These are the ptarmigan, or snow grouse (Lagopus
Rupcstris) — the arctic hare (Lepus Glacialis] two or

* A Spring and Summer in Lapland (a bird collector's tour), by
Horace W. Wheelwright ("Old Bushman"), 1871, p. 145.

304 THE MUSK OX.

more kinds of a small rodent, called the lemming
(My odes Torquattis], a mouse (Mus. Musculus], the marten
(Mustala Erminea), and the snow fox ( Vulpes Lagopus}.
There are also the three larger animals already
referred to, which are inhabitants of the Arctic
Zone, namely the musk ox, the reindeer, and the
polar bear, also in some places a few wolves; but
these larger animals do not as a rule winter in
the higher latitudes. The white bear for instance
usually keeps on the edge of the polar ice, in
the neighbourhood of open water, as it lives mainly
upon seals, and other food obtained from the sea ; and,
in the opinion of Sir George Nares, rarely leaves its
hunting fields, in Baffin's Bay; and never enters the
polar basin through Robeson Channel. *

These animals are still seen in considerable numbers
in some parts of the Arctic Zone ; and in our sections
devoted to shooting some details with reference to
the sport of polar bear hunting will be found, which
we trust may prove of interest ; though as a truly
arctic animal, a denizen of the far north, for the pur-
poses of the present section, the white bear possesses
fewer features of zoological interest than other habitants
of the polar basin.

The musk ox ( Ovibos Moschatus), one of these creatures,
though it must be classed among the fauna of the polar
regions, generally descends during winter to the neigh-
bourhood of the arctic circle, where there are woods, and
other places in which food is plentiful ; nevertheless herds
of these curious animals are sometimes met with by arc-
tic explorers, which have evidently wintered in very
far northern situations, where it is difficult to conceive

* Arctic Voyage,\)y Captain Sir George Nares, R.N., 1878, Vol. ii,p. 195.

REINDEER-MOSS. 305

how they can maintain life during" the long" polar
night, when vegetation is deeply buried in the snows.
Little however of a precise nature is known about their
habits — and the habits of the musk ox when existing
in high northern latitudes may differ considerably from
those of the same animal inhabiting the bush near the
arctic circle. It is however probable that like the
reindeer, the musk ox of polar regions subsists mainly
upon certain lichens and mosses, which though not
very attractive looking food, are found in vast quanti-
ties, we think we may say, in all rocky areas of the Arctic
Zone, wherever in fact the rock protrudes above the snow.
The reindeer moss (Cladonia Rangiferind) which is
as we have said, one of the nutritive lichens of the
Polar Zone, in some districts completely covers the
rocks, to a thickness of some two inches or so, with
a dense bluish grey carpet of a sort of dry hard moss-
like growth. The Lapland forests for example are full
of it ; and its peculiar appearance, together with the
long pendant tree mosses of a somewhat similar colour
hanging from the branches, imparts to these forests a
look of hoary antiquity which is very striking. Wherever
this apparently indigestible moss is found in plenty, the
reindeer appears to flourish and grow fat ; while else-
where they seldom seem to thrive or keep in good
condition. Professor Baron Nordenskiold states with
regard to this, that

"it has been well ascertained that reindeer can be fed on
grain, arctic grasses, lichens, and rushes, and thrive on them
for a while, but cannot go altogether without reindeer moss,
for any considerable length of time, without falling off in
condition. *

* Nordenskiold' s Arctic Voyage, pp. 176 — 200.
VOL. II. 20

306 REINDEER BURROWING FOR MOSS.

Strange to say, the quality of this moss seems to
improve under the action of severe frost, and therefore
it is never in better order than during the depth of
an arctic winter. At this time of course, it is mostly
deeply buried beneath a covering of snow, several feet
in depth — and the reindeer and probably also the musk
ox are then obliged to burrow for it through the snow,
exactly like rabbits. The wild deer at these times are
often come upon by hunters, with their bodies entirely
concealed in these deep holes which descend in a
slanting direction, and from which perhaps the tail or
hind quarters of a reindeer project, showing where the
animal is steadily working away, and shovelling out
the snow, in order to reach the precious food below;
large areas of land are often found to be honeycombed
with these snow burrows, and in this curious way
reindeer manage to sustain life, and even to remain
fat and in good condition, in the midst of what other-
wise seems a desolate waste of snow, where there
would not be nourishment enough for a mouse. We
venture to suggest that musk oxen probably obtain
their food in this way, when wintering in high northern
lands, such as the Parry Islands, or Grinnell Land; the
prairie buffalo (Bos Americanus] for instance, it has
long been known, when overtaken by heavy snows
upon the prairies, used to subsist in a very similar
way ; only it was not with the feet, but with the broad
and powerful nose, that they ploughed up the snow
until they reached the grass beneath ; in this way, old
buffalo bulls used sometimes to exist throughout the
whole winter on the Saskatchewan and other rivers in
the Hudson Bay Territory, where the snow lay several
feet in depth for months together; yet it was only

MUSK OX BEEF. 307

occasionally that hunters killing one of these bulls
found that the nose was excoriated by this constant
shovelling, but as a rule, most of their faces bore no
trace of injury from the rough work they had under-
gone. The musk ox is an animal of whose habits
much less is known — but according to the Encyclopedia
Britannica " they feed chiefly on grass, but also on moss,
lichens, and the tender shoots of the willow and pine." *
Now in these far northern lands there are to be
found many species of lichens. The Arctic Zone in
fact is peculiarly the land of the lichen; and upon
these, as well as upon dwarf creeping willows, rarely
rising over a couple of inches above the surface of the
ground, and the snow-loving " Saxifraga Oppositifolia,"
which is one of the hardiest and most valuable of
all polar forage plants, it is probable that the musk
ox contrives to glean a frugal livelihood. These
curious animals are about the size of small mountain
cattle, but are more heavily and powerfully built, and
in their structure and habits are closely allied to the
sheep. It is thus, and because of the strong scent of
musk which they exhale from their skins that they
have acquired the name of " Ovibos Moschatus. " The
meat is described as tasting like very tough beef, with
a flavour of musk, but this is said to be obviated by
skinning the carcase, and removing the viscera as
quickly as possible after it is killed, in which case the
meat is obtained free from this disagreeable taste. But
if these precautions are neglected it soon becomes
uneatable. The dressed carcase of a good musk ox will
sometimes weigh above 8 cwt, f and forms a welcome

* Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xvii, p. 108. (Article "Musk Ox.")
f Ibid., p. 108.

308 THE FOSSIL MUSK OX.

addition to the larder of an arctic exploring party,
when they are fortunate enough to obtain it.

It is curious that no trace of the musk ox has been
found in Spitzbergen ; its range seems to be confined,
at present, to Arctic North America ; but in days gone
past, it was much more widely distributed, as is proved
by the discovery of their fossil remains in Siberia,
along with those of the Mammoth, and other extinct
quadrupeds; their remains have also been found in
the plains of Germany and France, and also among
the Pleistocene gravels and clays of England, * show-
ing that there was a time when the musk ox roamed
over Europe as the domestic ox does now. And here
again, the veil which enshrouds a period of vast anti-
quity is once more raised, and we are able to discern
far in the mists of bygone ages an era when an
arctic climate reigned in England — for it is probable
that the musk ox browsed on an English landscape
during a glacial epoch, when the climate of England
probably resembled that of Labrador in the present
day: and though this great ice age is gone, there still
exist the marks of ice excoriation, to prove that it
existed and that its glaciers once ground the ravines
and summits of our Scotch and Irish hills; the musk
ox, however, though long extinct in Britain, still sur-
vives amid the eternal snows of the frozen north,
a living relic of that ancient world, proving that even
in those dreary solitudes Nature has preserved certain
forms of animal life whose economy is specially adapted
to the frigid zone, and has transmitted them through
long ages of geological time as a survival of the
past.

* Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xvii, p. 108.

THE FOSSIL HORSE. 309

It thus seems probable that the musk ox represents
one of the most ancient forms of life now existing
among the mammalia of the modern world.

Remarkable also is the fact that the most note-
worthy examples of these primeval types of animals
seem to be preserved where the greatest extremes
of climate exist: viz. in the hottest regions (Central
Africa) and in the coldest (the Arctic Zone). If this
be so, it is a wonderful example of that strange
power sometimes exercised by Nature, of maintaining
the existence of particular species under what would
seem to be the most unfavourable possible conditions;
whilst we have numerous instances of others which
have flourished under circumstances where everything
seemed to favour them, and yet they have dwindled
and become extinct; of this latter, perhaps we might
venture to quote the case of the disappearance of the
horse (var., .Equus Curvidens [Owen]) from the great
plains of South America, as a good illustration : where
this ancient horse has left nothing except its fossil
bones to testify to the fact of its existence; then
about 1537, when the Spaniards came to settle there,
they brought with them and landed the Spanish barb
on the banks of the Rio La Plata, which has since
flourished so enormously that it has overspread the
whole area of the region of the pampas with immense
bands of tame and also of wild horses. So numerous
have the barb horses become, that we have been,
in our time, to places where a fairly good horse
could be purchased for six dollars and even for less,
while thousands of mares as we have elsewhere
pointed out were annually slaughtered for the value
of their hides and bones. Now the variety of

310 POLAR SNOW AS A PROTECTIVE COVERING.

the horse which perished was an animal which,
as its name implies, was possessed of curved teeth.
Was it to this circumstance that its extinction was
due ? We cannot positively say — but it may well be
that an even smaller circumstance than this might
suffice to turn the balance, and decide the fate of a
race, under the imperious necessity of the great natural
law, first insisted on by Darwin, of " a perpetual struggle
for existence and the ultimate survival of the fittest."

It is not however alone in the case of one or two
solitary instances of large animals, which contrive to
maintain existence throughout the long night of the
polar winter, that we encounter marvellous examples
of vitality under (apparent) adversity, in the Arctic
Zone. There are still the cases of the arctic hare,
and mouse, the lemming, the marten, and the ptarmigan
(besides others), upon each of which we propose to
say a few words.

And here we would remark, that when we wonder
at the seeming difficulties under which these creatures
constantly live, it is yet probable that could we remove
them to some more hospitable shore, it would prove but a
cruel kindness, and that to them our officious meddling
would simply mean destruction. Man is but too apt
to judge of everything from his own standpoint of
view; and to argue that because to him the great
night of an arctic winter, and the drifting snow
which covers everything, would be but a cold comfort,
ergo, it must be so to everything else. — Nothing,
however, as we know, can be further from the fact.
To these seemingly weak and delicate denizens of the
Polar Zone, the snow drift is a home which furnishes
them with both house and covering: beneath its

GLACIERS AND PLANT LIFE. 3 I I

enveloping shield the nutritive lichens, and other
plants upon which they browse, are protected (as by
a glass house erected over them) from the rigour of
the elements. Not only does it serve as a covering
to preserve them from the influence of the great
external frost, but it also shields the earth itself from
its intensity, while the continual dripping of water
from its under side at a temperature just above its
freezing point, affords constant nourishment to the
plants beneath, so that the moment spring arrives and
a hot wind causes the liquefaction of the snow, they
are instantly ready to start into vigorous growth —
indeed it is doubtful whether some of these plants do
not maintain a constant growth throughout the winter,
even while buried beneath the snow. There are certain
plants which as we know, continue to grow in darkness
and while covered up from the atmosphere and sunlight,
even in our own country ; we need go no further to seek
for examples, than the mushroom, the seakale, and the
rhubarb, which grow in this way, when " forced " for early
use, in all our wel Iconducted gardens. In the same way,
we believe that some at least of the arctic plants are con-
stantly growing beneath the snow. We may cite the
purple flowering saxifrage (Saxifraga Oppositifolici) as a
probable instance in point, because wherever bits of it
appear above the surface, even during the depth of
winter, where the movement of the drifting snows
may have temporarily exposed it, this wonderful plant
always seems, though exposed to the full influence of
the icy winds, to be covered with newly grown,
tender green, shoots. *

* Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir George Nares, R.N., 1878,.
Vol. ii, p. 205.

312 SURVIVAL OF PLANTS BURIED UNDER GLACIERS.

We shall even go a step further, and endeavour
to show that it may actually be possible for plants
to exist for ages in a state of profound coma, beneath
glaciers, without perishing; and that as time rolls on,
when a change of circumstances causes the glacier to
retreat, their vegetative process is resumed. This resur-
rection of plant life (if it be a fact that it does take place)
is a phenomenon so very wonderful that no words of
ours are adequate to convey an idea of its truly
marvellous nature : the fact however that perennial
plants are now known to spring up immediately in
the rear of the retreating ice, goes a long way to
establish its authenticity. In the natural course of
things, it would be annuals, and other plants whose
seeds are known to be carried long distances by the
wind, that might be expected to be the first to appear
in this way, but the vegetation of glacier lands is so
poor that this class of plants fails to distribute them-
selves in the usual way.

Professor Meehan has given his reasons for believing
in these facts, for in a catalogue of plants, collected
along the coast of Alaska in 1883, he states that they
were not found merely to follow in the wake of glaciers,
or to grow from material brought down by them in
their advance; but that what he saw convinced him
that they remained for an indefinite period in existence
under the ice, retaining vitality, and pushing again
into growth when the ice retreated, and he explains
that he was led to this conclusion,

" from finding no annuals in the immediate wake of retreating
glaciers in Alaska, where the number of perennials would be
as great as if much time had been given for floral advance.
These and other facts led to the hypothesis that these plants

SNOW CAVERNS. 313

were not migratory, but had held their position through the
whole icy period. While the finding of living willow trunks,
grass, and perennial plants of many years growth, close to
the edges of retreating glaciers, seems to place the point
beyond any reasonable doubt." *

The length of time during which these growths may
have remained in a state of suspended vitality, beneath
the ice, is of course a matter which there are no means
of determining. All that can be said on that head is,
that so far as is known, glaciers retain their positions
for long periods of time, without any considerable
change. They are, known to be always moving, but so
slowly that their advance sometimes amounts to only
a few feet in the course of a year.

Returning however to the questions respecting
animal life in the polar regions, we find that all
these small arctic animals, to which we have referred,
are of the order " Rodentia " (except the marten,
\Mustela Erinined\ a creature which doubtless lives by
preying upon the others) ; all of these therefore,
presumably feed upon the leaves, bark and shoots of
shrubs and plants, and all of them, the hare included,
live in the snow drifts (where the arctic hare has
holes like a rabbit), and there can be no doubt that
they burrow down, and descend to the surface of
the earth in order to reach these plants, which are, as
we venture to believe, continually growing there.

It might perhaps be supposed that the act of always
mining through heavy masses of snow would prove
a work of endless labour, difficulty, and danger, to
any creature that might attempt it. Observations upon

* See Article on The Flora of Greenland, in The Athenceum for
June 24, 1893, p. 187.

314 SUPPORTING POWER OF SNOW ROOFS.

the condition of the polar snows, however, show that
there are almost everywhere caverns, and open spaces,
existing" at the surface of the ground, underneath them.
This is a very curious and remarkable circumstance,
and one of high scientific interest, which at once
(assuming1 its correctness) explains the facility with
which these little arctic animals live and thrive, in the
midst of a dreary waste of ice and snow, where appar-
ently no living" thing" could long" survive.

That these hollow spaces do unquestionably exist
underneath the snow, is proved by the well-known
fact that persons walking about upon its surface, as
the summer draws on, frequently find large areas of
the snow field subsiding beneath their feet into these
caverns, showing that extensive hollows were there,
and that the snow does not everywhere rest solidly
upon the ground, but is merely supported upon columns
of it, here and there. Sir George Nares for instance,
mentions that

"in July 1876, while walking above an extensive surface of
snow, it readily gave way and sank beneath us, with a
muffled noise, not only immediately under our feet, but a
large area of it acting in combination: how large we cannot
say, as no crack is visible in the neighbourhood." *

The very considerable supporting power of snow roofs
and arches, used in the construction of snow houses,
is well known ; spaces of considerable extent being
able to be safely roofed in by hard snow, without
the necessity of interior support. For instance we are
informed by the same authority that in some houses,
erected for the Polar Expedition of 1875-6—

* Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir George Nares, R.N., 1878,
Vol. ii, p. 79.

MEETING OF SNOW RESTING ON THE EARTH. 315

"the passage ways between the houses were roofed over
with flat slabs of extremely hard snow, these are now bind-
ing with their own weight and that of the superincumbent
snow ; but the latter solidified sufficiently to form its own support j
and we can now remove the original roof without danger." :

This as we conceive exactly describes the process by
which the cavities forming at the ground level are
supported, the decay of the snow there being of course
effected by the drip of the slowly melting mass, which
is always wasting over the whole extent of its under
surface, while it is renewed as constantly by fresh falls
upon its upper. It has been found that snow resting
upon the ground invariably has a tendency to melt,
the moisture quickly evaporating and becoming dispersed
into space, or forming a coating of ice upon the snow
roof above. Thus, while working in the snow houses of
the expedition already referred to, Dr. Moss, surgeon
on board the Alert, states that he observed that " any
small quantity of snow left on the floor, evaporated;
the moisture rising and collecting on the inside of
the dome of the house, as rime;" f and there can be
no doubt that the action going on upon the earth's
surface, is of a similar nature.

But why should snow melt, when it touches the
ground? — Is it because a certain amount of caloric
is being constantly exhaled from the earth's surface,
proceeding from the stores of internal heat, which \ve
know exist within the terrestrial sphere? This is
certainly the interpretation we are disposed to place
upon this phenomenon. This melting of the snow
however proceeds irregularly, certain places from a

* Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir George Nares, R.N., 1878,
Vol. i, p. 221.

f Ibid., Vol. i, p. 225.

316 ANIMAL LIFE BENEATH THE ARCTIC SNOWS.

variety of causes decaying faster than others: in
this way it is evident that considerable cavities must
exist underneath, in which there can be no doubt,
small animals can pass and repass without difficulty,
and so are enabled to feed upon the plants which
grow there as if under the roof of a house — and
like rats and other subterranean living animals in
our own country, these creatures thus exist in security,
doubtless collecting nests of grass in crevices of
rocks, and beneath the shelter of stones, etc., where
they can rear their young, in what to them is a
warm and comfortable abode, considerably warmer in
fact, at all times, than the exterior atmosphere.

It is nevertheless a wonderful fact, when we come
to think of it — and one worthy of all men's attention,
as a striking example of the boundless resource and
adaptive power of Nature — to find that, in these vast
snow fields, where all appears to be a howling wil-
derness, destitute of any form of life, continually swept
by the fury of icy gales and swirling clouds of driv-
ing snow, there should still be small and delicate
animals, passing their lives in peaceful security be-
neath, unaffected by the greatest rigours of the tempest
or the frost, ready when the long night of winter is
over, and the summer returns, to issue once more
rejoicing from their holes, to bask in the blessed
sunshine, and people the country with myriads of.
harmless and beautiful living creatures. That they do
reside in these regions throughout the winter, is
proved beyond a doubt by their occasional appearance
upon the surface on fine days, when their tracks are
often clearly visible to arctic explorers; the animals
themselves being also sometimes seen and shot.

THE LEMMING. 317

One of the commonest of these little creatures is
the lemming (Myodes Lemmus) * an animal belonging
to the order "Rodentia," about the size of a rat; of
these there are probably several varieties, and one of
these, the ringed lemming (M. Torquatus], is stated
by Sir George Nares to be found in great abundance
throughout the far northern regions, where it was
traced to the extreme point attained by the
expedition under his command, f

"We find their holes (he says) everywhere, apparently made
for the purpose of ventilation, for they do not often appear
on the surface at this season" (winter)— "they appear to be
usually contented with the exercise they get in the hollow
space under the snow, where the temperature is very little
below zero, and their nests must be considerably warmer" §
— and again — "The Lemmings are evidently feeding under
the snow, for the few tracks do not point towards the patches
of vegetation left uncovered." **

The enormous numbers in which these animals some-
times swarm, might appear to many people almost
incredible. In Lapland, and in certain districts of Nor-
way and Sweden, they sometimes assume the propor-
tions of a regular plague ; visiting districts of country
where they are ordinarily quite unknown, at intervals
of from 5 to 20, or more years ; at which times the
country is

" literally overrun by an army of these little creatures, which
steadily and slowly advance, always in the same direction,
and regardless of all obstacles, swimming rivers, and even
lakes, several miles in breadth; and committing considerable

* Encycl. Brit., 6th Edition, Vol. xiv, p. 436. (Art. "The Lemming"),
f Lat. 83° 20' 26'' N.

§ Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir Geo. Nares, R.N., 1878,
Vol. i,'p. 238.

** J6ut.t Vol. i, p. 241.

3l8 THE ARCTIC MOUSE.

devastation on their line of march, by the quantities of food
they consume." *

On these occasions, true to their habits of living in
the dark beneath the northern snows, they only travel
by night ; f and as is usual when any pest appears, they
are followed everywhere by crowds of birds and beasts
of prey, which reap a rich harvest of food from the
ranks of the invading hordes, upon which they live.
These swarms of lemmings generally disappear as
suddenly as they came, and the Norwegians have a
curious legend concerning their disappearance, which
holds that, when they at length reach the coast, the
entire company end their journey by committing whole-
sale suicide in the waters of the ocean ; after which,
they are of course seen no more. It is sufficient
however for our purpose to note the fact that they
do, in some way, suddenly disappear. Another remark-
able instance of a small, weak creature, surviving amid
the eternal snows, is that of the arctic mouse (Mus
Musculus}. These ferocious little creatures seem to
swarm in summer pretty well all over the barren
grounds of Arctic America; at that season the mice
are brown, but like other polar animals, turn white in
winter. As regards the ferocious nature of this mouse
it is stated that " if disturbed in a tuft of grass, it
will turn on a man, and dance, with impotent rage,
at his feet." §

Mr. Pike says he has met with one of these mice
crossing immense snow-covered lakes in winter time,
miles from the shore, and no place seeming to be too

* Encvcl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xiv, p. 436.
t Ibid.

§ The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by Warburton Pike,
1892, p. 183.

ARCTIC HARES. 319

cold, or too barren, to keep this little creature going;
and he relates an amusing story about one of them,
thus met with while they were travelling over the ice, and
which the mirage, occasioned by fog, caused the party
to mistake for a musk ox — a slight error, affording a
good illustration of the difficulty there is in recognizing
objects distorted by mirage and seen through these fogs.

" We saw an animal (he says), apparently at some distance,
bounding along the horizon. All along the line there were cries
of ' musk ox' — guns were snatched from the sleighs, and even
the dogs charged at full gallop, in pursuit; but after a rush
of ten yards, the object suddenly disappeared — a man had
put his foot on it, and it turned out to be one of the small
mice, so common in the barren grounds. What it was doing
out on the lake, at this time of year, instead of lying comfort-
ably curled up under ground, I cannot say." *

The arctic hare (Lcpiis Glacialis] is another example
of a much larger animal, which undoubtedly passes the
winter in the most northern regions, as yet visited
by man. — Its tracks, and even the hare itself has been
seen by explorers everywhere, but unfortunately not in
sufficient numbers, to prove anything more than an
occasional delicacy to hungry travellers. It is an
animal, perfectly white in winter, fully as large as an
English hare, which will at a pinch provide a meal for a
small party. Partially white hares are now common in
the London game dealers' shops, in spring time, were they
may often be seen hanging in considerable numbers.
This sub-arctic variety of the polar hare, as we have
been informed, is mostly imported from Russia.

Sir George Nares found them inhabiting the most
northern land yet visited, where they attained the

* The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by W^arburton Pike,
1892, pp. 88, 89.

320 BIRDS LIVING UNDER SNOW DRIFTS.

weight of from 8 to 14 Ibs. "These hares" (he says)
u are pure white, with black tips to the ears, and
under apparently very adverse circumstances, live in
burrows or holes scraped horizontally into a snowdrift, "
where he thinks they mainly feed on " Saxifraga
Oppositifolia," the hardy plant of which we have already
spoken, as found growing all over the polar regions,
which even where it was " opposed to the wind,"
bears " delicate green buds " that are nibbled off by the
hares. * In a game list which is appended to Capt. Nares'
2nd volume it appears that 216 of these hares, 63 musk
oxen, 8 foxes and one reindeer were killed by the
members of this expedition, f There can be little
or no doubt therefore, that the polar hare mainly
lives beneath the snows, much as the lemming and
other animals do, during the winter season; because
on some days the members of the expedition were
occasionally able to secure 3 or 4 of them ; and then
again perhaps for a long time there were no more of
them to be seen. During the dreary solitude and
tedium of the long polar night, these sporting adven-
tures often prove a valuable source of interest to
imprisoned explorers. — And in addition to hares, birds
can also occasionally be shot; of these the rock
ptarmigan (Lagopus Rupestris] is by far the most
common. Its range, in all probability, extends to
the pole, and certainly goes beyond the furthest
point yet reached by man, close to which tracks
of ptarmigan were clearly visible in the snow, as
well as at intervals all the way up to it. The

* Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir Geo. Nares, R.N., Vol. ii,
1878, pp. 204, 205.

f Ibid. Appendix to Vol. ii, pp. 352, 353.

PTARMIGAN LIVING IN SNOW DRIFTS. 321

tracks of these birds are generally seen in conjunction
whith those of hares, and it seems probable that they
exist in much the same way as their fourfooted com-
panions, and live like them beneath the snow, and
feed upon the same plants. Although only 5 2 seem to
have been killed by the late Arctic Expedition under
Sir G. Nares, * ptarmigan are nevertheless known to
thrive everywhere in the polar regions, and also on
most mountain ranges throughout the northern temperate
zone, which are pretty constantly covered with snow.
Thus in Scotland it is stated on good authority that
these hardy birds " are seldom found in any quantity
below 2000 feet ;^and where the heather and grouse
cease to exist, there they thrive." f

Ptarmigan are consequently known as the " snow-
grouse," and the red grouse of Scotland (Lagopus
Scoticus, which belongs to the same family as the
"heather grouse)."

But although no degree of cold appears to be too
intense for ptarmigan, it certainly seems strange how
they manage to support life during the depth of the
polar winter, when everything is so deeply buried
beneath the snow. It would seem however, that to
these birds the drifting snows provide at once a
shelter and a home : it is to their cover that they will
at once fly, when alarmed, or when seeking refuge
from the force of the icy blizzards, which so frequently
sweep the surface of vast expanses of the arctic snow fields
in winter ; and during severe weather they seem seldom

* Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir Geo. Nares, R.N., Vol. ii,
1878. See Appendix, and Game List, pp. 352, 353.

f Shooting and Salmon Fishing Hints and Recollections, by Augustus
Grimble, 1842, p. 107.

VOL. II. 21

322 BIRDS CHARGING INTO SNOW DRIFTS.

to quit the shelter of the snow, where they have regular
holes, like the hares, which they constantly inhabit, only
emerging from them in fine, still, weather. It would
therefore seem that in some way they must manage
to work their way through the drift until they reach
the vegetation, which as we have explained is probably
always growing in the hollow chambers which un-
questionably exist at the surface of the ground beneath —
and it may be that they construct these burrows while
the snow is still in a soft state, in autumn, and that
their breath congealing upon the inner surface is suffi-
cient to prevent their collapse and even to enlarge
them, until the snow has hardened and afterwards melts
away in spring.

The fearless way in which ptarmigan, in common
with other varieties of northern grouse, will fly headlong
at full speed into a snow drift, has often been noticed
and commented upon by travellers with astonishment.
On striking the drift they of course instantly disappear,
knocking up a little cloud of snow-dust by their impact,
as if it had been struck by a bullet. — Mr. Lloyd, in
his "Northern Field Sports," has noticed the same pecu-
liarity both in the blackcock and the capercailzie, in
Scandinavia ; and Mr. Levinge has observed it in the
case of the " Birch Partridge " as it is called, in Canada.
This bird is however a true grouse (Tetrao Umbellus]
and Mr. Levinge says —

" When about to ensconce themselves, they charge into the
snow with all their might, the impetus carrying them some way
into it, sufficiently far to prevent foxes etc. being attracted
to the spot: indeed so small is the orifice in the snow, the
particles of which naturally fall over it, that the unpractised
eye might pass numbers of these birds, thus concealed. The

BLACKCOCK RISING OUT OF SNOW FIELDS. 323

initiated however detect a sea-green spot of reflected light
in the disturbed snow, and numbers of these birds become
an easy prey to the Indians, who when the snow is so soft
that the birds can hide in it, need never go supperless to
bed." *

At this season in fact the Indians often catch them
thus with their hands, in the midst of apparently barren
snow fields, where to all appearance not a living thing
exists.

In a recently published book upon Russia, a gra-
phic account is given of an English sportsman who
suddenly came upon a regular colony of blackcock,
which were thus hid in the snow, while he was trav-
elling through the forest, at a time when the snow
was deep; when a number of these birds suddenly rose
one after another all round him.

"To my intense surprise (he says) another blackcock rose
at my very feet, and flew off; another and another rose within
a few yards of me. Blackcock rose from any quarter, right
and left, in front and behind, without the slightest warning.
One, out of the snow at my very feet, covering my snow
shoes with a shower of white spray, as it rose, apparently
from the bowels of the earth. Will it be believed that as I
stood in one spot, at least thirty blackcocks rose within easy
shot, one by one? In five minutes they had all gone, and I
was at liberty to examine the holes. I found each was a
long narrow passage, from a yard to a couple of yards in
length. I afterwards heard that the blackcock in rough
weather, when the snow is deep and soft, desert the trees
and bushes, and flying in a body, suddenly with one consent,
swoop downwards with folded wings, but at full speed, and
take a ' header' into the snow— each bird thus penetrating to

* Echoes from the Backwoods of Canada ; Experiences of an Old Settler,
by Capt. R. G. A. Levinge, 1849, Vol. i, pp. 126, 127.

324 ALBINISM.

the distance of a yard or two, and forming a comfortable
warm lodging for the night. *

It might appear at first sight that such a manoeuvre
must be attended with great risk of injury to the birds ;
as for instance, if they should happen to strike against
a branch, or other hard object buried beneath the
snow ; but the great depth of the drifts, and the exceed-
ingly fine, dry, powdery nature of the snow, seems
to render it as safe for them to dive into, as the water
is for a gannet, fishing in the sea. We know that
the gannet will suddenly plunge into the water with
great force from a very considerable height, but expe-
rience shows that whether it be into water or into
snow, in neither case do the birds seem to ruffle as
much as a feather, while executing these bold feats
with that perfect confidence which is born of a know-
ledge that they may perform them with impunity —
and in performing them, the birds, no doubt, instinct-
ively close their wings and feathers, so that they
plunge into the opposing element, which then merely
serves to press or smooth the feathers closer to the
body, without doing the slightest injury to them.

The question of the white, or protective colours of
arctic birds and animals, of which the ptarmigan is
a conspicuous example, is a matter which deserves a
brief notice. There are some glass cases in the South
Kensington Museum, containing groups of these birds,
and small animals, which illustrate very beautifully this
phenomenon of protective colouring, both in the desert
and in the arctic zones. The instances of this pro-

* Out of Doors in Tsarland, a Record of Wanderings in Russia, by
Fredk. J. Wishaw, 1893, PP- IJ5 — IT7-

VALUE OF PROTECTIVE COLOURINGS. 325

tective colouring collected by Mr. F. S. Worthington,
in 1890, from the Egyptian deserts are all sand
coloured, to match the colouring of the surrounding
landscape — while the white birds, and small rodents,
illustrative of the same subject in the arctic zone,
were presented by Professor Collett, of the Zoological
Museum at Christiania, in 1891. — Only in three instances,
we are informed by the descriptive cards attached to
these cases, is the white colour retained throughout
the year — namely in those of the snowy owl (Strix
Nyctea [Linn.]), the Greenland falcon (Falco Candi-
cans [Linn.]) and the polar bear (Ursus Maritimus}.
The summer livery of all the others conforms to the
hue of their surroundings at that season, and the white
dress is assumed only during winter. Among the
latter the ptarmigan in spring is found to have its
plumage mottled with brown spots and bars. — This is
usually regarded as an effort of Nature to preserve
them from the attacks of enemies; and it must be
manifest that snow-white birds among brown rocks
and gravels would be very conspicuous objects in
summer time; the very great value of the protection
afforded by the brown dress thus at once becomes
apparent: but if it prevailed in winter time it would
then be disastrous. The prevalence during winter
time of white in the colourings of ptarmigan and other
arctic creatures, is therefore to be regarded as the
result of a positive natural law, " the ultimate survi-
val of the fittest," which Mr. Darwin first brought
into prominent notice. It is evident that brown birds
or animals would as we have observed become such
conspicuous objects on the surface of a snow field,
that they would certainly stand much less chance of

326 CAUSES OF ALBINISM.

survival in the battle of life than their white-robed
companions — the latter would therefore in the end
assert their superior fitness, and would thus survive,
whilst the former perished — of this there can be little
doubt ; but that does not explain to us by what process
Nature proceeds to whiten the fur and feathers of her
proteges. The question therefore which we propose to
ask ourselves is — How do they come to turn white ? Are
we to regard this as merely an effect of exposure to
great cold? And if so, does it ever whiten the coats
of birds and animals exposed to exceptional cold,
which are always (except on those rare occasions)
otherwise coloured? — We can have no doubt but
that these questions must be answered in the affirm-
ative.

We humbly venture to believe, and say, that in
our opinion the white colours of the creatures inhabiting
the polar regions are simply due to the permanence
and intensity of the cold. This however is a highly
technical question, and we feel that we are here treading
upon somewhat delicate ground, concerning which
conflicting opinions may be held, and that it is sometimes
said that in the case of birds, these changes of colour
are due to a regular moult, and not to any change
of colour in the feathers themselves ; we are inclined how-
ever to regard this view as an error. * Alteration in the
colour of the hair, in the case of the human subject
for instance (where the matter has been made the subject
of extensive research) is now known to proceed from
" the arrest of pigmentation, which gives rise to

* See for instance observations on this subject in A Spring and
Summer in Lapland, by Horace W. Wheelwright (Naturalist), 1871,
PP- 3I4—3I7-

IRISH HARE TURNING WHITE. 327

greyness at every period of life, and to the hoariness
of old age." *

Let us consider therefore for a moment this question
of change of colour in the human hair. Each hair is
embedded in a depression of the skin, called a " hair
follicle," and the root of the hair dilates, at its lower
end, into a bulb, f as any one can see, by pulling a
single hair out of his head. Now, as we conceive,
the effect of great cold upon the skin of arctic birds
and animals is to cause contraction in the roots of
the hair, or the tissues from whence the feathers draw
their nourishment, so as to create either a complete
arrest of pigmentation, or else a modification in the
pigment, so that they become more or less completely
blanched. Feathers in all probability follow the same
rules as hair. That cold has the effect of causing
changes of colour in this respect has been noticed
and admitted by Darwin; but unfortunately he did
not proceed to explain in what way he believed these
changes to arise — but that exposure to cold is of itself
sufficient to turn animals white, is to our mind clearly
proved by the case of hares in Ireland during the
exceptionally severe winter of 1878 — 1879. Upon
that occasion we happened to be there, at a place
where there were then (before the era of Mr. Gladstone's
Land Acts) many hares; all of which turned more or
less white, and some of them became completely snow-
coloured all over, a thing that had never occurred
there before within the memory of any living man. § Yet

* Medical Dictionary, by Richard Quain, M.D., 1883, Vol. i, p. 576.
(Art. "The Hair").

f See Encycl. Brit. Vol. i. (Article "Anatomy"), p. 898.

§ Personal observations and notes made by the Author, at Hilton.
Park and other places in Ireland.

328 AFFINITY BETWEEN GREAT HEAT AND GREAT COLD.

when the great cold passed away and spring returned,
these animals gradually resumed their normal yellowish
colour, and white hares disappeared. In the London
game dealers' shops in spring, many Russian hares are
as we have mentioned exposed for sale, partly, or even
entirely, of a white colour; but on enquiry into this
matter when in Russia, we were given to understand
that hares always turned more or less white there
every winter, and changed colour again in spring. The
case of the hares in Ireland in 1878, which was
there regarded as unparalleled, is therefore an event
of annual occurrence in Russia, and also we believe in
Norway and Sweden. —Then as regards birds, the
ptarmigan, of which we have been speaking, is known
in Scotland to be mostly of a brown colour, like
ordinary heather grouse, in summer, but to assume its
snowy garb on the approach of winter. These con-
siderations, as we believe, fully justify us in regarding
the universally white colours seen among arctic birds
and animals as due entirely to the rigour of the
climate, and that it is by this means that Nature effects
these changes; though we do not deny that the
interbreeding of animals, etc., of this colour, during
long periods of time, may also have had its effects
in rendering the white colour more pronounced and
snow like; and possibly if some of these creatures
would bear transportation to a southern climate, it
might be found that this colour had become permanent
in the case of some of them: a white bear cub for
instance, brought to a zoological garden, always
remains, not white, but yellowish-white.

The effects of great cold are so peculiar and remark-
able that to those who have never experienced any-

CRACKING OF TIMBER DURING INTENSE FROST. 329

thing of the kind it is not easy to convey an adequate
idea of it. Strange to say, contrary to all that might
be expected, it bears a close resemblance, in many of
its leading conditions, to those produced by great heat.
Woodwork and all articles of horn, bone, or ivory
will shrink and crack for instance, during an arctic
winter, * exactly as when exposed to a hot sun or to
intense dry heat, and the fittings of cabins, etc., on
board ships, will open and warp, quite as much as, or
even more than, during a voyage to the tropics.
Beams and other heavy scantlings of timber will also
frequently suddenly crack, with a loud report, resembling
a rifle shot, especially if in a green state, as for
instance in the case of logs used in the construction
of houses. Even growing trees will often be heard
to crack (or explode) in a similar manner, during the
prevalence of intense frost, such as occurs periodically
in the forests of Canada, and in other localities with an
extreme rang'e of temperature. These facts are so
well known to all travellers and settlers in North America,
that it seems hardly necessary to do more than state
them. Mr. Rowan for example in his well-known
book, written for emigrants and sportsmen in Canada,
when giving a description of a hunter's winter camp
in the forest, says : " Suddenly a loud sharp report,
close by, wakes him. What is it? A rifle shot? — No
—simply a tree, cracking with the frost. " These noises
he thinks " are not caused by the freezing of the sap,
for " (he adds) " I have heard the same cracks in dry
seasoned timber, in the wall of a house." f

* See Sir John Richardson's Boat Voyage through Ruperts Land,
1851, Vol. ii, p. 101.

f The Emigrant and Sportsman in Canada — Experiences of an Old
Settler, by John J. Rowan, 1876, p. 294.

330 CAUSES OF THE CRACKINGS OF TREES BY FROST.

So again, Captain Anderson, of the Royal Engineers,
while employed on surveys connected with the North
American Boundary Commission, at the Lake of the
Woods, in Manitoba, thus states his experiences, while
sojourning there in a winter camp:

" There were occasional days and nights of clear weather
and motionless atmosphere; on these occasions the thermo-
meter would show the greatest degree of cold, and in the
woods an audible evidence of its intensity was occasioned
by the freezing of the sap in the trunks and branches of
the trees, and the consequent bursting of the bark, with a
report like pistol shots. This chorus would sometimes continue
throughout the night, and the frequency and violence of the
reports would afford a good comparative measure of the
cold." *

It will be observed that these authorities differ upon
the probable cause of this phenomenon, which may
arise from several causes, so that in the case of grow-
ing trees it may be that Captain Anderson's is the
correct one; whereas in perfectly dry timber, it is
probably simply due to the shrinking of the wood--
loud cracks in floors, as we know, are common in
newly erected houses ; and in great cold, such as we
are now considering, there can be no doubt that the
frost increases the rigidity of the fibres of the timber,
so that when at length they do give way, they do so
with commensurate violence, accompanied with very
loud reports. But it is not wood alone, but all articles
of horn, bone, etc., also warp and fall to pieces just
as in very hot weather.

The advent of the winter cold, we need hardly say,

* Capt. S. Anderson, R.E., on the North American Boundary
Commission, in Vol. xlvi of the Journal of the Royal Geographical
Society for 1876, pp. 235, 236.

ELECTRICAL CONDITIONS OF GREAT COLD. 331

is as a rule followed everywhere throughout the tem-
perate zones by the decline and fall of the leaf of
deciduous trees, and by the arrest of vegetable growths ;
thus producing an interval of rest for plants, which is
almost as essential for their well-being as it is for
men and animals; it is not however so generally
known that this period of rest is as efficiently created
by heat as by cold. In tropical and sub-tropical lands
for example, where there is a long dry season, we
have already shown that combined heat and drought
will cause the fall of the leaf from trees and plants,
exactly as the cold does in northern regions, and they
subsequently remain bare of foliage until the return of
the rains again starts them into growth; the advent
of the rains therefore represents our spring in these
countries. Even in the equatorial zone an artificial
period of rest can be produced for trees imported
from temperate regions, by exposing the roots to the fierce
heat of the sun during short intervals of dry weather.

In our section on the Equatorial Zone this matter
has been gone into at greater length, and further
details about it will be found there.

The highly charged electrical condition of the
atmosphere in the arctic regions, though thunderstorms
are rarely or never seen there, in many respects also
bears a close resemblance to the results following upon
the intense dry heat of the desert zone; in both cases
the dryness of the atmosphere is very remarkable,
and in each, the phenomena of sparks emitted by
woollen garments, etc., is reproduced. * Thus during

* See Seas and Skies in Many Latitudes, by the Hon. Ralph Aber-
cromby, F.R.M.S., 1888, p. 8, and Sir John Richardson's Boat Voyage
through Rupert's Land, 1851, Vol. ii, p. IOI.

332 AFFINITY' BETWEEN BURNS AND FROST-BITE.

severe dry cold, blankets and other woollen clothes
adhere to each other, and if roughly drawn apart will
frequently be found to emit sparks, accompanied by
a crackling noise, while in a dark room quite a bril-
liant glow of light is at times thus created. Even
passing a comb through the hair or beard is, on
these occasions, sometimes sufficient to draw forth
distinct electric sparks. These curious phenomena
may be produced, as we have said, by either intense
dry cold or heat, and the effects in both cases seem
to be almost identical.

Then again there is the well-known fact, that in
very low temperatures a piece of metal, applied to
the skin, will adhere to it, and produce a burn, ex-
actly as if the iron had been red hot; if however
both the iron and the hand be perfectly free from
any trace of moisture, no actual " burn" will ensue,
but merely a severe stinging sensation, like that
produced by contact with a galvanic battery; the
slightest moisture is however sufficient to make the
skin stick to the iron, and a painful blister is at
once formed, precisely as if by a burn from a heated
iron.

Then proceeding another step in advance, we are
again met with the curious similarity which exists
between the effects of burns and frost-bite : we do not
here refer to slight cases of frost-bite, but to the
more serious cases, which in many of the symptoms
closely resemble those of severe burns. There is the
same extensive blistering, destruction of the cuticle,
fever, swelling, and acute inflammation of the surround-
ing parts. If the frost has entered far into the flesh
(as for instance in cases of the congelation of a limb),

SUPERFICIAL FROST-BITES. 333.

there is the same complete destruction of the deeper
tissues , sloughing", and ulceration ; and the same
subsequent difficulty of healing", and tendency to
gangrene. Each and all of these symptoms follow
every severe case, either of burning or of frost-bite.
As in the case of burns, frost-bites may of course be
of almost all degrees of intensity, and slight cases merely
extend to a deadness or numbness of the part, and are
easily recognised by the place turning white. The
person is at the outset usually ignorant of what has
occurred, as there is no pain. The first effect of
frost-bite is loss of sensation ; as long as sensation
continues the part is safe. When first bitten however,
if the thing is observed by a comrade and taken in
time, no very great harm is done, though return of
the circulation is usually accompanied by a severe
smarting or burning sensation, and the part remains
red and swollen for some time: it is also rendered
more liable to be again bitten than a sound part. It
is commonly supposed that the thing to do is, immedi-
ately on the discovery of a frost-bite, to rub the part
violently with snow: nothing however can be more
unwise, or even dangerous ; if the part is at all badly
frozen, in the case of fingers, toes, etc., it may detach
the flesh from the bone, and cause serious injury ; it
must be always remembered that frozen flesh will
break, if roughly handled, like a candle or piece of
wax — its elasticity having been destroyed by freezing*
Even a woollen shirt for example, which has been
wetted, and then rigidly frozen, may be broken, if roughly
or violently bent. * If snow is used therefore, the

* Sir J. Richardson, Boat Voyage through Rujber?s Land, 1851, Vol.
ii, p. 100.

334 CONGELATION.

friction should be of the gentlest nature; but if it
can be obtained probably the safest thing is the very
coldest water, in which the hand or foot may be
immersed, and the temperature of it slowly raised, to
,50° or 60° Fahr., and the circulation thus very gradu-
ally restored. The return of sensation is accompanied
by considerable pain in the part, and if the pain be
very violent, it is generally to be regarded as a sign
that warmth is being too rapidly applied. Sir George
Nares expresses himself altogether against the use of
snow, which in the far north he considers far too
cold for the purpose, and for superficial frost-bites he
advises very gentle friction by the hand to the
affected part, as any rough handling would certainly
remove the skin. * Probably the mere application of
the warm hand for a time, without rubbing, would
prove as efficacious, and safer.

Speaking of cases of frost-bite the Hon. Ralph
Abercromby says:

" In extreme cases, when the flesh is thawed, it swells enorm-
ously, and rises in huge horrible-looking blisters, and gives
intense pain. If the bitten part turns black in a day or two,
it is all over with it, and nothing but amputation remains.
Fever often supervenes at this stage; and during the Napo-
leonic wars at the commencement of this century the French lost
thousands of men in Germany from ' fievre de congelation.' " f

Congelation, we may observe, is the freezing of a limb,
as contra-distinguished from superficial frost-bite of the
external surface.

Severe cases of frost-bites or congelation, as we

* Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Captain Sir George
S. Nares, R.N., 1878, Vol. i, p. 264.

f Seas and Skies in Many Latitudes, by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby,
1888, pp. 7, 8.

DEATH BY COLD IN THE HUMAN SUBJECT. 335

have elsewhere pointed out are very common during
hard winters, and in blizzards, all over the great plains
of North America. During the severe winter of 1872
and '73, for instance, over 200 men in the vicinity of
Fort Dodge are reported to have lost hands or feet,
or part of them, and in one instance a poor fellow
lost both hands and both feet. * In these cases of
congelation no doubt gangrene had set in, necessitat-
ing amputation of the parts, for Colonel Dodge
mentions that at least seventy operations were
performed by the post surgeon on persons suffering
from the results of frost-bite. The sufferings following
cases of severe frost-bite, as related to us by
persons who have undergone them, almost exceed
belief. The numbers of persons frozen to death
on the American prairies is also considerable, and "in
the Russian Empire" it is calculated that "on an
average 694 deaths occur annually from this cause; "f
and extraordinary, but not the less true, is it to say
that even to the very last in these cases, the analogy
between the apparent effects of great heat and great
cold does not cease. And though we have referred
to this view of the case before, it can do no harm to
briefly advert to it again here. Mr. Abercromby, with
reference to this matter, remarks that before death
by congelation " the singular delusion of oppressive
heat supervenes," and "under the influence of this
fancy the victim begins to strip off his clothes, and
so hastens the fatal end." §

* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, by Colonel Richd J.
Dodge, U.S.A., 1877, p. 39.

j Medical Dictionary, by Richd. Quain, Vol. i, p. 271.

§ Seas and Skies in Manv Latitudes, by the Hon.Ralph Abercromby,
F.R.M.S., 1888, p. 7.

336 EFFECT OF COLD ON THE HUMAN BODY.

There is a technical point of high importance which
it is always desirable to bear in mind, in connection
with this strange and remarkable occurrence — namely
that the first effects of exposure, or of the application
of cold to the human body, is to cause a progressive
rise in the temperature of the internal organs. It has
long been known that cold causes immediate contraction
of the skin, and of the adjacent blood vessels, while
heat on the other hand, dilates them. This contraction
is sometimes so considerable, that its effects produce
what is known as goose skin, or a rough papular
appearance, somewhat resembling a goose's skin
when the feathers are removed; while the blood, thus
necessarily repelled from the external surface of the
body, is thrown back upon the internal organs, pro-
ducing a species of congestion : a condition which
accompanies more or less, every ordinary cold, or
catarrh, and hence the serious, and often even fatal
complications which follow a neglected "case of
common cold" when congestion of the lungs, or
pneumonia, for example arises.

The late Dr. A. H. Garrod, a most rising and scientific
young man, whose career was unfortunately cut short
by an early death, made a regular series of experi-
ments upon himself, with a view to determine the
extent of the increase thus produced on the temperature
of the human frame. It would be too long to state
the results except in general terms.

" On stripping the human body (he says) in air of about
50° Fahr., a rise in the internal temperature commences
immediately. This phenomenon (he proceeds to point out)
is explained thus. The contact of cold air produces so
considerable a contraction of the vessels, that the blood is so

SLEEP PRECEDING DEATH IN INTENSE COLD. 337

far driven inwards, that the conducting power of the skin is
rendered considerably less : consequently, the body temperature
rises, until a higher equilibrium is attained." *

The results of Dr. Garrod's experiments are given
in tabular form, in his collected papers which we have
here quoted from, and he has clearly shown that this
increase of internal temperature is an undoubted fact,
which would seem to afford some clue to the sensation
of oppressive heat, which sometimes seems to haunt the
last moments of those who have been frozen to death,
and may thus cause them to remove their clothing.

More than that, as we know, persons when overcome
by cold, often experience an overpowering tendency
to sleep. This feeling of a desire to sleep is a species
of coma, which under conditions of great cold, quickly
passes into profound insensibility. It is a very common
concomitant of many forms of death, where life passes
from the sleep of time into that of eternity by so gradual
a process that there can really be no doubt that the
dying person passes away entirely unconscious of the
approaching change. Now under exposure to great cold
this seems to follow sleep, if indulged in, almost as a
matter of course. We therefore venture to suggest that
it may be, that the well-known deadening sense of
great cold upon the mental faculties, predisposes these
persons to the idea that they are merely retiring to
bed to take their nightly rest, and so induces them to
partly or wholly undress.

Those who have been exposed to the intensely cold
winds of icy blizzards can quite feel that the chill is
penetrating the nervous centre, so as "to make them

* The Collected Scientific Papers of the late Dr. A. H. Gar rod. Edited
by Wm. Alex. Forbes, 1881, pp. 37 — 41.

VOL. II. 22

338 FALLING INTO THE POLAR SEA.

feel quite foolish " : we have many times known people
exposed to great cold to express themselves in these
very terms.

As a rule we think we may safely say, that serious
cases of congelation are generally the result of some
neglect or imprudence, and strange to say, they seem
to be far more common upon the steppes and prairies
than they are in the arctic regions ; many of them we
fear are the results of drink : in other cases of course,
the victim has probably been suddenly overtaken
upon the high plains by a blizzard, without being
prepared for it, and in such cases people may often
be literally frozen to death within a very short distance
of their own homes. Sailors belonging to whaling
ships also, are sometimes upset into the water, during
the arctic summer, when the sea is very little above
its freezing point, and on being taken out, the air
being much colder than the water, become quickly
coated with ice, and frozen. Respecting this latter
accident Dr. Laing, surgeon on board the ship of the
celebrated arctic navigator Captain Scoresby, makes
the following observations:

" It is almost needless to remark (he says) that in this
inclement region, swimming is of little or no use to any
person who may chance to fall overboard, as his muscular
motion is almost instantaneously obstructed by cold." *

This we may observe is almost always the case in
very cold water. Unless the person gets out almost
immediately, he soon becomes benumbed and perishes.
In this instance a sailor had been upset out of a boat
by a whale, and had been brought on board covered

* A Voyage to Sjpitzbergen, by John Laing, surgeon ; 2nd Edition, 1 8 1 ' ,
pp. 113/114.

ARCTIC COLD AND TROPICAL HEAT. 339

with ice, and in an almost inanimate condition ; from this
state however, Dr. Laing says, he soon quite recovered,
on the application of warmth and the administration
of cordials. The object of mentioning the case is to
show the rapid way in which the system becomes
paralyzed, when brought into contact with great cold,
as for example by immersion in the sea. In very
cold water the strongest man lasts but a very short
time, as we have said; yet on the other hand, dry
cold, in a perfectly still atmosphere, is seldom dangerous,
or even seriously inconvenient, provided that men are
thoroughly well equipped against it. Dr. Moss, of
H.M.S. Alert, for instance, says that:

" It was possible to walk for two or three hours over snow-
clad hills, in a temperature 100 degrees below zero, without
getting frost-bite — only the face and lungs are really exposed,
and neither appear to suffer from it; and our experience (he
says) led us to think that men thoroughly prepared might
safely encounter far lower temperatures. " " Many a time (he
proceeds to remark) the relative merits of arctic cold and
tropical heat were warmly discussed. Several of both our
officers and men had lately returned from the Ashantee
campaign, and they could speak with authority. There was
one thing clear — one could sometimes get warm in the arctic,
but never get cool on the (African) coast." *

Mr. Clements Markham also thinks that on the whole,
these high latitudes are among the healthiest regions
in the world.

" I will quote (he says) the evidence of one of the most
distinguished medical officers who has served in the arc-
tic regions, to prove that of all the seas visited by
men of war, the arctic have proved the most healthy.

* The Shores of the Polar Sea, illustrated folio, by Dr. Edward L.
Moss, M.D., 1878, p. 47.

340 WINTER IN THE UPPER ENGADINE.

The mortality will be seen to be 1.7 per cent only;" * and
again, "It is a circumstance worthy of note, that those who
suffered from bronchial affections each winter in England,
were exempted from them while in these regions." f

The cause of this immunity from chest affections,
which has been so often noted by arctic explorers,
is no doubt due to the exceeding dry ness of the at-
mosphere. The therapeutic value of dry cold, in the
treatment of certain forms of lung affections, is a matter
which has been gradually becoming more recognised
of late years, and delicate persons are now sometimes
advised to try the effects of a winter residence in the
Upper Engadine, in Switzerland, where on account of
its great elevation (6000 feet over sea level) a regular
arctic climate prevails for some months every year.
Dr. Tucker Wise, resident physician at Maloja, states
that during a recent season,

" Ordinary catarrh is almost unknown, except in badly ven-
tilated houses, where a cold in the head, or sore throat,
seems liable to be communicated to others. During the whole
winter at Maloja (he says) no person suffered from the for-
mer complaint, and but two cases of sore throat occurred,
through indiscreet exposure." "It is by no means uncommon
(Dr. Tucker Wise goes on to say) for individuals to quit a room,
and proceed out of doors, with a difference of 50°, and oc-
casionally 60° Fahr., without feeling any pressing need of
gloves or extra clothing." §

These are day temperatures ; but of course at night
the differences are considerably greater ; also on these
occasions an absolutely still atmosphere always exists,

* The Thres hold of the Unknown Regions, by Clements R. Markham,
F.R.S., 1878, p. 272.

f Ibid., p. 276.

§ Alpine Winter in its Medical Aspects, by A. Tucker Wise, M.D.,
3rd Edition, p. 98.

EFFECTS OF DRAUGHTS IN INTENSE COLD. 341

as the least breath of air would make such a cold
almost unbearable. Baron Nordenskiold, the well-known
Swedish explorer, for example, tells us:

" In calm weather a cold of— 40° F. is scarcely very trou-
blesome; but with only a slight draught, and a cold of — 35°
it is actually dangerous to expose uncovered parts of the face,
hands, or wrists, to the cold current, as without one's being
warned by any severe pains, frost-bite arises." *

" Experience (Sir George Nares remarks) teaches us in
these regions never to run during severe weather, for although
the weather may be perfectly calm, the fast journeying through
the air, at a temperature below minus 50°, has the same
effect as if a light breeze were blowing." f

On one occasion with a temperature of about minus
480, on a calm day, a party from the Alert happened
to be out when a slight air began to blow for about
ten minutes, and Sir George Nares says of it : "With
so low a temperature, the sensation of stinging cold
in the exposed part of our faces, was intensely painful. " §

These facts are sufficient to show the great risks which
are incurred in facing a wind while a very low tempera-
ture prevails, and explain how it is that we so often
hear of people being actually frozen to death in bliz-
zards, close to their own homes. In Canada, during
severe winters, in the same way little inconvenience
is felt by anyone in a still atmosphere, no matter what
the amount of cold may be ; and this season is often
the merriest and gayest of the whole year, people all
going about in sledging parties, and to other forms

* Voyage of the Vega, by A. E. Nordenskiold, translated by Alexander
Leslie, 1881, p. 474.

•j- Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Captain Sir Geo. S.
Nares, R.N., 1878, Vol. i, p. 249.

§ Ibid., Vol. i., p. 239.

342 ADVENT OF THE GREAT COLDS.

of winter sports ; but the moment that there is a breeze,
the cold becomes intolerable, and everybody who is
not compelled to go out of the house on urgent
business remains closely shut up indoors.

Thus Colonel Warburton (who has written some of
the best books extant on Canada), mentions that,

" One Sunday, when the thermometer was at 30° below
zero, and a high wind was blowing, the effect in many
respects was not unlike that of intense heat" — "for as the
icy wind touched the face, it scorched it like a blaze. *

Here again, it will be observed, we recognise one of
these strange similarities between great cold and great
heat to which we have so frequently drawn attention,
and anybody who has himself experienced the effects
of one of these icy winds, will doubtless at once call
to mind this curious sensation which Colonel Warbur-
ton here records.

The great colds of the arctic winter, it is well to
observe, do not occur, as one might have supposed,
during the great night of winter, but rather at its
close, when the sun is beginning to reappear again.
The increase of the cold appears however to be
generally progressive throughout the winter darkness,
as it also seems to be during the lesser nights in tem-
perate regions; that is to say, the usual course of
things is, as soon as the sun sets, a steady fall in the
temperature begins, which, if no abnormal conditions
set in to interrupt it (such for instance as a sudden
change of wind), continues throughout the night, until
sunrise, so that the last hours of the night are always
the coldest; — the coldest hour of the twenty-four gener-

* " Hochelaga " or England in the New World, by Col. George
Warburton, 1854, p. 59.

RETURN OF THE SUN IN SPRING. 343

ally being that which immediately precedes and
accompanies the dawn. Experienced travellers who
have seen much of camp life have but too good
cause to know this. So also, it would seem, does the
temperature progressively fall throughout the great
night of the arctic winter. Dr. Moss, of H.M.S. Alert,
for instance, says —

" As the absence of the sun lengthened, so the cold increased.
Arctic expeditions have almost invariably registered their
lowest temperatures in February and March, the months in
which the earth is coldest, even in England. It may be
said to be always freezing in the far north. The temperature
sank permanently below freezing point in the middle of August,
and continued below it for nine months. On the third of
March, three days after sunrise, the unparalleled temperature
of minus 73°7 below zero was indicated by our thermo-
meters, and for many hours the temperature remained more
than 100 degrees below freezing." *

Captain Markham also comments upon this remark-
able circumstance and says, " strange to say, our
extreme cold came with the returning sun ;" and
alluding to this intense cold of 106° below freezing
point, he states that it " was the lowest temperature
recorded by the expedition, obtained from the mean
of several thermometers; and so far as we could
ascertain, the lowest really authentic corrected observa-
tion that has ever been registered. " f During the latter
part of February 1876 the temperature at the winter
quarters of the Alert had gradually been getting lower
and lower, until at length it fell to this unprecedented
point ; yet we are told it was as far back as January

* The Shores of the Polar Sea, by Dr. Edward L. Moss, M.D.,
illustrated folio, 1878, p. 46.

f The Great Frozen Sea, by Capt. A. H. Markham, R.N., 1880, p. 223.

344 EFFECT OF GREAT COLD ON SPIRITS.

the 1 2th that the sky at noon, close to the southern
horizon, first " displayed a decided tint of green" *
although it was not till the 2gth of February that
they "saw the upper limb of the sun returning to
awaken Nature from its long repose," f and it was
only on the "4th of March, at 11.30 a.m., that the
sun was clearly seen above the southern hills" §
after an absence of 138 days, or say four and a half
months. ** A number of curious circumstances which
accompanied the above intense cold are related by
Capt. Markham as the result of experiments tried by
exposing various substances to its influence.

" Glycerine, upon which a temperature of— 50° had little effect,
became at — 70° perfectly solid and quite transparent. Rectified
spirits of wine became of the consistency of hair oil. Con-
centrated rum 40 degrees overproof, froze hard when exposed
in a shallow vessel, like a saucer, but in large quantities it
resembled honey, or molasses ; whisky froze hard, and bits of
it were actually broken off and eaten. Chloroform was the
only substance, on which the low temperature had no apparent
effect." ft

It is therefore evident that in future it will be
prudent always to take highly concentrated spirits for the
use of ships proceeding to these northern regions. This
freezing constitutes a serious difficulty in the storage
of liquids which are apt to get lost by the bursting of
bottles, and the leakage of casks, in consequence of
their expansion under the influence of frost ; as soon as

* See Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir George
Nares, 1878, Vol. i., p. 220.

f Ibid., Vol. i., p. 249. § Ibid., Vol. i., p. 263.

** At the winter quarters of H.M.S. Alert, in Lat. 82° 27' N., Long.
61° 18' "W., the sun sank October 14, 1875 and rose March 4, 1876.

ff The Great Frozen Sea, by Captain A. H. Markham, R.N., 1880,
pp. 223, 224.

FRESH WATER ICE ON SEA WATER. 345

the temperature rises high enough for them to turn
liquid again, they of course then run out and are wasted.
Other articles, like lime juice, for instance, which is
so necessary as a preventative of scurvy, 'become solid
masses of hard ice, so difficult to thaw that their use
on boat and sledging journeys becomes impossible, as
sufficient fuel for melting them cannot be carried. These
are only a few among the many difficulties encountered
by arctic travellers. On the other hand in the far north
meat will keep all the year round; and it is also said
that salt beef and pork, if taken out of the barrel and
hung in snow houses, gradually parts with most of its
salt, and becomes much improved in quality — strong
brine seems to resist the action of frost for a long
time, and to have a tendency to concentrate itself
under the influence of severe cold : the watery particles
freezing*, and the saturated solution of salt oozing
away in liquid form.

The turning of the salt ice into fresh water ice, is
believed to be also due to this cause. As to the fact
of its doing so, there can be little or no doubt. The
experience of Dr. Rae, during his long and laborious
sledging journeys in the arctic regions, seems to be
conclusive on this point.

" We were never (he says) able to find ice ' in situ' (i.e.
floating on the sea) either eatable when solid, or drinkable
when thawed, it being invariably much too salt. " (The doc-
tor is here speaking of " floe" ice, of the previous winter's
growth) — "but old ice, if projecting a foot or two above the
water level, was almost invariably fresh, and when thawed
gave excellent drinking water." *

* Dr. I. Rae on " The Physical Properties of Ice. " See the Manual of
Natural History, Geology, and Physics prepared for the use of the Arctic
Expedition of 1875 — 6, by Professor Thos. Rupert Jones, 1875^.650.

346 HOW SALT ICE TURNS FRESH.

But Dr. Rae thinks " the ice must have been formed
at least twelve months, or perhaps eighteen months"
before this change takes place, and his theory respect-
ing this remarkable phenomenon is as follows :

" When the sea freezes, I do not think (he says) that the
saline matter assumes the solid state, unless the cold is very
intense, but that it remains fluid, in the state of very strong
brine, enclosed in minute cells. When the ice is raised above
the water level, the brine by its specific gravity, and prob-
ably by some solvent quality acting on the ice, gradually
drains off from the ice, and the small cells, by connecting with
one another downwards, become channels of drainage." *

A small quantity of salt, placed upon ordinary lake
ice in situ, during a winter's frost at home, as anyone
will see who tries it, immediately begins to act ener-
getically upon it; the ice begins to crackle and soon
so far decomposes and becomes eaten away, that it
gets quite rotten and dangerous to stand on, and the
salt finally seems to pass through it, and escapes into
the water below, f

Great icebergs are generally, we believe, found to
consist of fresh water ice. Captain Parry for instance
tells us that these " ice islands are frequently composed
of pure fresh water ice, which is found in pools on the
surface, or running down the sides " (during the summer
time) "and watering in this manner is a general
practice of ships in icy seas." §

Some of these great bergs, or 'ice islands' are often of
enormous size, not uncommonly rising from 100 to 300
feet above the surface of the seas, and having a circum-

* Dr. I. Rae on " The Physical Properties of Ice, " p. 650.
f Result of experiments with salt on lake ice in sitit.
§ Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole in Boats, by Capt.
W. E. Parry, in 1827 — quoted in Roper's Navigation, p. 368.

GREENLAND THE MOTHER OF ICEBERGS. 347

ference of many thousands of yards ; when we reflect that
from one sixth to one eighth part of the ice only appears
above water, it conveys a still more wonderful idea of
the vastness of these floating" mountains of ice which
must weigh many millions of tons. The question of
the formation of icebergs is however still a mooted point
among scientific men, but according to the Encyclopedia
Britannica, the balance of probability seems to be
opposed to the idea of their forming upon the sea
itself. The thickness of ice formed by a winter's
frost, authorities seem generally to agree in saying,
does not exceed about seven feet in any one year, *
and though exact data upon these subjects are unattain-
able at present, it is supposed that the great bergs are
merely pieces broken off from the termination of
glaciers, where they move down from the interior of
the land, and reach the edge of the sea. f This of
course would account for their being fresh water ice.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica —

" Greenland is the principal mother of icebergs " (in the
Northern Hemisphere). " The whole of the interior is believed
to be capped with an enormous glacier, always moving towards
the coasts, and at certain points reaching the sea, where
masses break off in the shape of icebergs." " Recent observa-
tions of one of the principal discharging glaciers of Greenland,
show it to be 920 feet thick, and 18,400 feet wide: and
that it advances at the rate of 47 feet a day during the
summer season." §

This ice would of course necessarily be fresh water

* See Encycl. Brit., gth Edition. Vol. xix., p. 328.

\ See The Great Ice Age, by Professor James Geikie, 3rd Edition,
1894, p. 47.

§ Encycl. Brit., gth Edition., Vol. xix, p. 329. (Article " the Polar
Regions ").

348 THE GREAT ANTARCTIC ICE BARRIER.

ice. Researches in the arctic regions to the north
east of Behrings Straits also show that immense ice
cliffs formed of pure ice exist "at Cape Maitland, in
Liverpool Bay, from 80 to 100 feet^-high," which
* present to the sea a constantly frozen wall. " *

Similar ice cliffs, but still more gigantic in size
and of enormous extent, were found in the antarctic
ocean by the South Polar Expedition, under Captain
Sir James Clark Ross, in 1843, who traced them
extending practically without a break for a distance
of 450 miles, from Long. 100 E. to Long. 165 E., mostly
in the 75th to 7 8th parallels of latitude, f

This great range of ice cliffs is entirely unexampled
in any other part of the world, and proves beyond question
the much greater severity of the climate in the South Polar
regions, compared with anything yet discovered in the
northern, and shows the stupendous magnitude and thick-
ness of the Paleocrystic ice, which exists within the ant-
arctic circle. This great ice barrier, so far as could be
ascertained, was from 180 to 200 feet in height. It
seemed to be flat on top, and to form the seaward
face of an enormous collection of ice and snow,
which had probably been in process of formation for
thousands of years.

The ancient ice in the antarctic regions was also
found to extend much further from the pole than it
does in the arctic ; and a violent succession of heavy
gales appear to succeed each other throughout the

* Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald, by Sir John Richardson,
Edited by Professor Edwd. Forbes, F.R.S., 1854, p. 5.

f See Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic
Regions, by Capt. Sir James Clark Ross, R.N., 1847., Vol. i., p. 232.
(Some plates of this wonderful ice barrier are given in Vol. i. of Sir
J. C. Ross's work).

GREAT MOVEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN ICE. 349

whole antarctic ocean at short intervals all through
the summer, so that in every way the dangers of
navigation and the severity of the weather, were far
greater in the antarctic seas than anything that has
been met with in a corresponding latitude in the
northern hemisphere. Captain Sir James Clark Ross
however, succeeded in penetrating as far as Lat.
78° 4X S., Long. 161° E. in 1841, * and since then, very
little has been done in the way of antarctic
exploration. A new South Polar expedition was
however proposed by an Exploration Committee at
Melbourne in 1890; and public subscriptions were
invited to make up a sum of £15,000 which was re-
quired for this purpose, f but the idea had to be
abandoned for want of funds.

Since then the antarctic regions have been brought
prominently into notice by a most remarkable movement
of the southern ice, which appears to be of so gigantic
a nature that it exceeds everything of the kind that
has ever been recorded during historic times. It would
appear to be caused, almost certainly, by some vast
volcanic convulsion occurring in the unknown solitudes
beyond the great antarctic ice barrier, where it is
known that at least one or more active volcanoes
exist. It would be difficult to account in any other
way for the tremendous movement which has taken
place there amongst the ice. Bergs, or rather islands,
of a size which enormously exceeds anything ever
before heard of, have been hurled into the sea in
great numbers, and these masses have gradually

* Raper's Navigation, igth Edition, 1891, p. 628.
f See Hayd^s Dictionary of Dates, 2Oth Edition, 1892. The matter
was again keenly debated in the Australian press in the spring of 1895.

350 GIGANTIC ANTARCTIC ICEBERGS.

drifted northwards into the track of vessels both in
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Even in the Indian
Ocean many great icebergs have been sighted by ships
bound to Australia, in the usual track of vessels.
The ob struction created by the ice has also been very
great within a short distance of the New Zealand
coast.

The Morning Post (London) in a most able and
interesting article on this subject, says,

" Some idea of the extent of this obstruction may be formed
from the fact that it necessitated a steam ship losing two
days, in making a detour to regain its proper course."

But the ice here appears to be relatively trifling, com-
pared with that seen in the South Atlantic. There
there is a current setting from the southwards, past
Cape Horn towards the Falkland Islands, and on this
the same article says,

" Hundreds, if not thousands of gigantic bergs, have been
floating into mid ocean as far north as Lat. 37° S., and it
is likely that ere long vessels bound round the Cape of Good
Hope will fall in with these dangers." " Ice," it proceeds to say,
" is often seen on the Newfoundland Banks a few miles in
circumference, and from 50 to 250 feet high, but the largest
of these dwarfs into insignificance beside the monsters from
the South Pole. Some of these bergs are at least 50 miles in
length, those of 10 miles and upwards being numerous."
The fields of ice have been extending for 400 miles and
" bergs of 200 feet high are common, several have been reported
of looo feet, and one is said to be 1500 feet."

Fortunately the shipping casualties were few, one vessel
however collided with one, and had to be abandoned,
and in the West India Docks, London, there were at
the time the above article was written some half a dozen

ICEBERGS AT SEA. 351

ships which reported injuries of a more or less severe
nature.

" But there have been hairbreadth escapes, and captains at
the docks relate most thrilling accounts of the dangers they
have passed through. As a spectacle some of these officers
report that nothing can be grander or more tremendous than
those majestic icebergs." *

The danger to shipping of meeting icebergs at sea by
night or in fogs is of course very great — in detecting
their presence no reliance is to be placed upon the
thermometer, for a variety of reasons, too long to go
into here, but which are fully stated in the authority
from whose book we quote. It is therefore, we
are told—

"much better to go quite slow, keep a hand aloft and on
the forecastle, stop the ship occasionally, and listen for the
sound of breakers, or the echo of the steam whistle;" also "a
large iceberg will denote its presence even on the darkest
night, by a sort of whiteness or halo, known as 'ice blink.'" f

Such we are assured, are the principal precautions
which experience suggests for the guidance of seamen
on these trying occasions.

It has often been supposed that when ships came
to the end of navigable limits in the polar regions,
explorations could be pushed forward by means of
sledging parties, travelling over the ice until they
reached the pole. Unfortunately arctic experiences
thus far seem to preclude the hope of success which

* See Article in Morning Post of June 7, 1893. (Assuming the
relative proportions between the submerged portion of these icebergs to
be about 7 parts to I part appearing above water, it follows that a
berg 1 500 feet high over sea level — mentioned above — would represent
a mass of ice 10,500 feet thick).

t See Wrinkles on Practical Navigation, by S. T. S. Lecky, Master
Mariner, Comr. R.N.R., Edition 1887, pp. 219, 220.

352 SLEDGING PARTIES OVER THE FROZEN SEA.

was so confidently anticipated from attempts of this
nature. As we have already mentioned, the exceed-
ingly rough nature of the ancient ice renders sledge
travelling impossible ; over wide areas of frozen
sea the rise and fall of the tides is continually break-
ing up the ice fields; and the enormous pressure of
the surrounding ice piles up immense broken masses
of it, one layer above the other, in such chaotic con-
fusion, that the whole landscape resembles rather a
series of hills, composed of huge blocks of ice, than a
smooth frozen plain, such as popular fancy seems to
have pictured as the normal aspect of an arctic ice-
bound sea. Over such a surface, travelling parties
with sledges have to slowly force their way, climbing
up to the crest of one elevation, and painfully drag-
ging the heavily laden sledges, with infinite labour,
after them, and then lowering them down as best
they can on the opposite side. It is therefore very
evident that long before they could possibly reach the
pole, their provisions would be exhausted, and famine
would force the adventurers to beat a retreat. The
sailing orders issued by the British Admiralty to Sir
George Nares, * for the guidance of his expedition,
fully recognised this difficulty, and pointed out, in
distinct terms, the extreme improbability of successful
results following upon any attempts of the kind.
Paragraph No. 15 of these orders runs as follows:
" It must not be lost sight of, that in the absence of any con-
tinuous land, sledge travelling has never yet been found prac-
ticable over any considerable extent of unenclosed frozen
sea ; although conditions may be found to exist which would
enable parties to travel for limited distances by sledge and

* Dated May 2Otli, 1875.

ARCTIC SLEDGE JOURNEYS. 353

boat operations combined ; and for this purpose the best boats
and sledges that can be devised, have been supplied." *

The results of Commander Markham's sledge journey
subsequently proved the wisdom and correctness of
these instructions. With infinite labour, and at very
great risk, that officer succeeded in pushing forward
to within just 400 miles of the Pole, but he was then
from these very causes forced to retire, after pene-
trating but a comparatively short distance further than
previous attempts had succeeded in doing, and planting
the British ensign in the midst of eternal snows, at a
somewhat higher latitude than had up to that time
been reached.

Sledging journeys are practically restricted to the
spring and summer time only. The darkness of the
long winter's night of course precludes the possibility
of travelling over such a description of country at that
season ; and the soft state of the newly fallen snows
renders travelling impracticable in autumn and early
winter: at that time men sink so deeply into them that
extensive snow fields become almost impassable. Snow
in these far northern regions falls in an extremely fine
dustlike flour, and not in the large flakes which
are usual in England; in this exceedingly fine state it
is of course blown about by the least puff of wind, f
and so forms blinding clouds of snowdrift, which render
it impossible for travellers to guide their course with-
out constant reference to the compass ; in a few moments

* Extract from Admiralty Sailing Orders, addressed to Captain Sir
George Nares, R.N., given on page Xiv of preface to his Narrative
of a Voyage to The Polar Sea, 1878, Vol. i.

•f- Voyage of the Vega, by A. E. Nordenskiold, translated by Alexander
Leslie, 1881, Vol. i, p. 473.

VOL. II. 23

CANADIAN SNOW CAMPS.

also, all foot-prints and other traces of their passage
are completely obliterated.

" Day after day (says Baron Nordenskiold) during the win-
ter, drifting snow was so thick that the dark hull of the ves-
sel itself could be distinguished only when we were in its
immediate neighbourhood."

This sort of snow is however perfectly dry, and brushes
or shakes off clothes exactly like dry dust, and is
as light as a feather; in Canada such snow is
consequently known as " poudre " and it is generally
supposed there that it takes about eighteen inches of
it to make one inch of water. Of course in this fine
state, when there is a wind it penetrates everywhere,
no crevice seeming to be too minute to allow it to
make its way through ; in log houses therefore newly-
arrived settlers are often surprised in Canada, on
awaking in the morning, to find quite a little bank
of snow formed on the floors of their houses, by the
drift getting in through some small chink in the boards
or under doors etc., etc. On account of the descent
of the polar cold into the Temperate Zone, during
the Canadian winter, its temperature is often so low
that in winter camps it is no uncommon thing to
see a shelter wall of snow, banked up around them
to a height of four or five feet, remain standing
unaffected by the fierce blaze of a large fire burning
close to it — the heated and rarefied air from the camp
fires in the still atmosphere seeming to rise almost
perpendicularly, and in the intense cold, to throw out

* Vovage of the Vega, by A. E. Nordenskiold, translated by Alexander
Leslie, 1881, Vol. i, p. 473.

SNOW TIME IN THE FOREST. 355

rays of heat but a very short distance laterally. The
extreme dryness of everything at the same time renders
the cold less perceptible than might at first be sup-
posed, especially where men are enveloped in good
buffalo robes or other furs. Very beautiful are the
effects which are often produced by the masses of
soft white snow, looking like so much fleecy wool,
which covers the whole face of nature, and clothes
the trees and rocks with a glistening mantle of spot-
less white, festooned in the softest and most elegant
drapings. During severe snowstorms the scene is
often of the dreariest character imaginable, the wind
whistling wildly acros.s the desolate waste and the
dense, swirling clouds of "poudre," frequently render-
ing travelling almost or even quite impossible. But
when the snow has ceased to fall, and the storm is
over, these winter camp scenes, notwithstanding the
great cold, are almost always looked back upon by
those who have had experience of them, as among
the incidents best worth remembering of their exist-
ence; the great snow-covered solitude, the pendant
branches of the spruce trees and white-barked birches
stretching forth in the then perfectly still atmosphere,
loaded with fleecy snow ; the vast extent of frozen lake and
river — all combine, with the mighty hush of Nature,
to produce one of the most picturesque and impressive
tableaux which it is possible to meet with anywhere.
Another charming effect seen in winter, is the " Silver
Thaw," which generally appears as the result of
recent heavy fogs, whose rime descends and congeals
upon the branches and twigs of trees etc., depositing
upon them a layer of ice particles, so that sometimes
each tree has the appearance of a great chandelier of

356 SHOWERS OF ICE CRYSTALS.

crystals. * The Aurora Borealis is another phenomenon
everywhere visible throughout the arctic regions,
which is seen in Newfoundland, according to the same
authority, " in exceptional brilliancy and finer even
than in the arctic regions." f

Be this as it may, in fine weather the still glory
of an arctic night constitutes a spectacle of majestic
grandeur, which in its way is unexampled in other
lands. Even in the most northern regions yet visited
by man, according to Dr. Moss,

" The weather during winter is as a rule so calm and
clear, that observations on the stars can be made almost at
any time. But it was not a little remarkable (he goes on to
say) that even at the clearest time, some icy dust, too fine
to be called snow, was always falling." §

These ice crystals sometimes seem to fall in consider-
able quantities; and the phenomenon is by no means
confined to the arctic zone only, for we have seen
showers of these minute crystals falling during the
brilliant sunshine of a cold day at home, glittering like
gems of the purest water, as they slowly descended
through the sunlit atmosphere, and as regards their
quantity — in the Polar Regions,

" On the 2yth December 1875, at the winter quarters of the
Alert, when it was so clear that a star of the 3rd magni-
tude less than three degrees from the horizon could be satis-
factorily observed," Dr. Moss says that "in 12 hours, a
glass plate exposed on the top of a neighbouring hill collected
a quantity of little crystals, equal to nine tons per square mile."**

* See Description of Winter in Newfoundland in Colonial Year Book
for 1892, by A. J. R. Trendall, p. 76.

y Ibid., p. 76.

§ The Shores of the Polar Sea, illust folio by Dr. Edwd. L. Moss,
M.D., 1878, p. 44.

** Ibid., p. 44.

AQUEOUS VAPOUR IN THE POLAR ATMOSPHERE. 357

These icy particles, if we might venture to hazard
an opinion on the subject, proceed from upper currents
of air, passing in the great altitudes, still carrying with
them some slight quantities of watery vapour, which
the exceeding keenness of the arctic cold causes to
become frozen, and to be precipitated upon the earth in
this way, in the form of very minute ice crystals. The
rapid and progressive increase of cold, as the altitude
increases, is well known, and throughout the great
regions of illimitable space it represents a figure of
which we, the dwellers upon the earth, can form not
even the faintest conception even from our lowest re-
corded temperatures. Dr. Croll for instance mentions
in his remarkable work upon " Climate and Time in
their Geological Relations, " that " the Temperature of
Space as determined by Sir John Herschel is — 239°
Fahr.," and he adds that " Mons. Pouillet by a different
method, arrived at almost the same result." *

Here moreover we touch upon a technical point of
very great importance — namely the evident existence
of aqueous vapour in intensely cold form in the higher
atmosphere of the polar regions. As a rule any consider-
able lowering of the temperature is sufficient to convert
this watery vapour into either snow or rain. It is
then precipitated, and we have several times called
attention to the fact that even the passage of air over
lofty mountains causes the apparently almost complete
condensation of its vapour. The fall of these icy crystals
during still weather throughout the polar winter, and
the occurrence of heavy snowstorms as far northward
as man has been known to penetrate, proves however,

* Climate and Time in their Geological Relations, by James Croll,
LLJX, F.R.S., 1885, p. 323.

358 MOONLIGHT IN THE POLAR REGIONS.

that the air of these regions still remains charged with
vapour whose temperature must at the very least be
100° F. below freezing point and probably a good deal
below even that point. It is therefore evident that
we have a great deal yet to learn before we can form
even an approximate idea of the true conditions of
the atmosphere at great heights or of the capacity of
watery vapour to exist as such under conditions of
intense refrigeration.

These wonderfully clear nights in the arctic regions
are always very cold, very still, and very dry; and
their matchless serenity is periodically lit up by the
silver light of a moon of such exceptional brilliancy
that everything can be seen by her light almost as
clearly as if it were daylight.

" The moon (says Sir George Nares) is truly the presiding
goddess of the arctic nights, reflecting to us, during each of
her visits, the light of the absent sun, for ten successive days
and nights, as she circles round the heavens without ever
setting." *

The stars also shine with a lustre and a brilliancy to
which even the beauty of our fine winter's nights at
home can display nothing to compare with — and these
•"lesser lights" which, in the language of the Scripture,
" rule the nights " are so far reflected from the snowy
surface, that the whole landscape is clearly exhibited
all round for long distances, white, solemn, and
motionless: everywhere wrapped in its winding sheet
of spotless snow, and still and silent as the tomb.

It is at these times that the grand spectacle of the
Aurora Borealis is commonly most brilliant. It is an

* Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, by Capt. Sir George S.
Nares, R.N., 1878, Vol. i, p. 191.

THE AURORA BOREALIS. 359

electrical phenomenon most frequently seen in high
latitudes " in the form of luminous clouds, arches and
rays, of which the latter sometimes meet at a point
near the zenith, and form what is called a Boreal
Crown." *

The reader will doubtless remember the observations
we have already made upon the highly charged elec-
trical state of the atmosphere, alike in great heat and
great cold, and these wonderful "Northern Lights," as
they are often called, are but another exhibition of
its effects — by no means however exclusive to these
high latitudes, for it is often finely seen in Canada,
and elsewhere, and even in our own country. On the
night of the 24th of September 1870 for instance, a
beautiful Boreal Crown was visible in the North of
Ireland, tjhe whole northern horizon being constantly
lit up by brilliant flashes of flickering light, something
similar in appearance to what we see nowadays on
the display of a powerful electric light by naval
vessels at sea. Almost every book of arctic voyages
contains descriptions of the magnificence of some of
these displays, and not a few of them contain plates,
giving illustrations of the peculiar effects which were
produced. The long and rigorous night of an arctic
winter therefore is not wholly destitute of some softening
and mitigating circumstances. Dreary and desolate as
it always must be in its main features, there are still
these glorious and singularly beautiful displays with
which the Divine Wisdom has tempered the darkness
of this great night, during which the shadow of the
earth rests upon the Polar Regions for a continuous
period of several months' duration.

* Encyd. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. iii, p. 90.

3 bO ADVENT OF THE ARCTIC SPRING.

The departure of the winter — following upon the
return of the sun, and the breaking up of the ice
pack — is also the signal for another wondrous display
of power, compared to which all other natural phe-
nomena may well seem small in comparison; and
the frightful noises which frequently accompany the
setting in motion of all these millions of tons of ice
at times exactly resemble the discharge of heavy
artillery. The consequent perils to which ships beset
in the ice are always exposed at this season, and the
utter powerlessness of their crews to do anything to
avert a destruction which seems inevitable, are matters
of fact, related in almost every book of arctic travel.

The advent of spring is generally heralded in these
regions by the softening of the snow ; and its beginning
to ball under the foot in northern countries is generally
regarded as the first indication of approaching spring.
When the thaw sets in the ice becomes quickly rotten
and its rapid break-up then becomes only a question of
days. The enormous weight and grinding power of these
great frozen masses is so great that nothing can with-
stand it. The strongest ship if brought into direct
contact with it, would be crumpled up like so much
brown paper : and many instances are recorded of ships
being lifted right up out of the water and cast upon
the top of a pile of debris like pieces of floating chips.
Nevertheless on the dispersal of the ice below, they
have often been known to settle down again, and
effect their safe escape into open water. It was a
circumstance of this kind however that led to the loss
of the ill-fated Franklin expedition. Nowhere in fact
do the puny efforts of man appear so futile to control
events, or so powerless to save, as upon these occasions.

THE SCRIPTURES ON SNOW AND FROST. 361

This constant sense of ever-present danger has con-
sequently had such an effect upon the mind, that many
of our most renowned navigators in these seas have
been men whose valour has been equalled only by
their piety ; and we find frequent reference made in
their works to passages taken from the Scriptures,
which appear applicable to their helpless condition.

Among the many striking and dramatic passages,
descriptive of the various phenomena of Nature, with
which the pages of Scripture are filled, we append
some of those immediately relating to the cold and
snows of the winter season : —

Behold (says the Scripture) the nations are as a drop of a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust of the balance.
Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. *

• He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth:
His word runneth very swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool:
He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes.
He casteth forth His ice like morsels:
Who can stand before His cold?
He sendeth out His word, and melteth them:
He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow, f

Out of the south cometh the whirlwind:

And cold out of the north.

By the breath of God, frost is given,

And the breadth of the waters is straitened. §

Who hath divided a watercourse, for the overflowing of waters?

Or a way for the lightning of thunder.

To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is:

* Isaiah xl, verse 15.

t Psalm cxlvii, verses 15 — 18.

§ Job xxxvii, verses 9 — 10.

362 THE CONSTELLATIONS IN SCRIPTURAL NARRATIVE.

On the wilderness, wherein there is no man.

To satisfy the desolate and waste ground,

And cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.

Hath the rain a father ? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew ?

Out of whose womb came the ice?

And the hoary frost of Heaven, who hath gendered it?

The waters are hid, as with a stone,

And the face of the deep is frozen.

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades,

Or loose the bands of Orion?

Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season:

Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons ? *

Almost, on reading these passages, one might suppose
that the writers had been visitors to the arctic regions,
and were familiar with the aspect of the frozen deep,
the descent of the snows, the sealing up of the
waters, and the great break-up of the ice in spring
caused by the return of the sun and the setting in of
the southerly wind. The epoch at which the book
of Job was written is uncertain, but it is supposed by
some of the ablest commentators, both of the Jewish
and the Christian churches, to date from a very early
period, f and the singular beauty of some of its pas-
sages is of a very striking character; the original
was written as a poem, concerning which Calmet, in
his Dictionary of the Bible, says,

" We believe that there is not in all antiquity a piece of
poetry more copious, more lofty, more majestic, more adorned,
or more affecting." §

* Job xxxviii, verses 25 — 32.

f See the Dictionary of the Bible, by Dr. William Smith, 1863,
Vol. i, pp. 1095 — 6. ( Article "Job").

§ See Calmet 's Dictionary of the Bible, I4th Edition, 1861, p. 544
(Art. "Job").

GREAT STARS OF THE NORTHERN WINTER' SKY. 363

The mention of no less than three of the finest of
those constellations which we may see still glittering
in the celestial vault, after the lapse of some 3000
years, is remarkable and also unique in the Sacred
Writings. The Pleiades as we know, with their cluster
of seven little stars, * still appear unchanged in the
constellation of Taurus. The giant Orion, of the Arab
astronomers, which almost every child can point out,
still shines the greatest and grandest of all the con-
stellations, high in the zenith, in Biblical lands. A
line drawn through its belt, on the opposite side from
the sword, takes the eye close to a large V, on top
of one of whose sides, not far from the Pleiades, is
seen a bright and ruddy star " Aide bar an" (Alpha of
Taurus) which is much used for Nautical observations ;
whilst Arcturus, of the constellation " Bootes, " the
brightest gem of the strictly northern heavens, is at
once found by following an imaginary continuation of
the curve of the tail of the great bear (Ursa Major],
which leads us straight, and without the possibility of
any mistake, to Arcturus. f The somewhat obscure
allusion to " his sons " is supposed to refer to neigh-
bouring and attendant stars, in all probability to those
of the " Great Bear " itself, as the name seems to imply ;
the word " Mazzaroth " is of doubtful interpretation
but Dr. Smith in his Dictionary of the Bible believes
it to be a general name for the "signs of the zodiac." §

In view of the numberless dangers, difficulties, and

* Only six of these stars are visible to the naked eye, of which the
star "Alcyone" is the brightest. This constellation is however much
brighter and more clearly visible in the Southern Hemisphere, than it
is in the Northern.

f The name is derived from the Greek UQKtos, 'bear' and OVQ<X, 'tail.'
§ See Dr. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. ii. (Article " Maz-
zaroth"), p. 281.

364 ATTRACTIONS OF THE NORTHERN WILDERNESS.

discomforts, to say nothing of positive sufferings, which
every arctic voyager is certain to encounter, during
a residence in high latitudes, it might be supposed to
be mere affectation on the part of anyone to say that
these dreary wastes of ice and snow, could be pos-
sessed of attractions; or that a man who had once
experienced their privations, could be otherwise than
glad to escape for ever from their influences. Neverthe-
less their stern and desolate grandeur, and a certain
sublimity which is inseparable from an Arctic scene,
unquestionably do exercise a very strong fascination
over many minds, and surprising as it may seem to
be, there is ample evidence to show that men who
have once become familiar with the great Northern
Wilderness, in a great many cases, for ever afterwards
experience an unaccountable desire to revisit it, and
explore still further into the mysteries of this great
unknown country: — it is but another example of that
powerful fascination which a life of adventure in the
wilderness is always found to exercise over mankind,
in every region upon earth, and it would appear that
no amount of danger to life, or risk to health, has
ever been sufficient to damp the enthusiasm of ex-
plorers or permanently to arrest their progress.

Now, though the generally extremely healthy char-
acter of the arctic regions has never been questioned,
experience has shown that few European constitutions
can bear the rigours of the climate for more than a
couple of successive seasons, without the health becom-
ing affected by it, and that there is no such thing
as acclimatization to great cold, any more than there
is to the influences of great tropical heat.

In both cases, as time runs on, residents become

EFFECT OF ARCTIC CLIMATES ON HEALTH. 365

more sensitive, instead of less sensitive, to the influences
of the climate. These facts as regards European
residents in tropical lands are now well ascertained,
and also seem to be so with regard to arctic cold,
though of course experiences with respect to it are
much less numerous than in the former case.

The monks at the Convent of St. Bernard amid the
eternal snows of the high Alps, for instance, where a
positively arctic climate exists for the greater part of
the year, say that as a rule they find a return to the
plains absolutely necessary, for nearly all the members
of their community, after a residence at the top of the
pass for a couple of years. * It may therefore be
taken as a matter of ascertained fact, that exposure to
very great cold is not compatible with perfect health
for more than a very limited space of time.

The immense length of the Polar night in far nor-
thern latitudes has also a very depressing effect upon
many men— it lasted for a period of 138 days, for in-
stance, at the winter quarters of the Alert, in Lat.
82° 2-]' N., and Dr. Moss, one of the medical officers
on board, assures us, that its terrible tedium is far
more trying than the cold, which he says — "is not
nearly so trying as the long darkness, and both are
insignificant compared to the friction of the confined
life." f Nevertheless there was very little sickness on
board the Alert, or indeed on board any of Her Ma-
jesty's ships which have wintered in the arctic regions,
since the means of avoiding scurvy have been better
understood — and a remarkable fact is, how often we

* Statement made by the monks to the Author, in reply to questions,
during his visit to the Great St. Bernard.

f The Shores of the Polar Sea, by Dr. Edwd. L. Moss, M.D.,
1878, p. 47.

366 HUDSON BAY COMPANY'S OFFICERS.

find officers and men who have once taken part in
arctic expeditions, go back again and again to these
regions whenever opportunity offers.

In the sub-arctic regions, adjoining the southern
margin of the regular arctic zone, however, where the
summers are considerably longer, and the winters
very much shorter, the briefer period of cold, though
perhaps quite as severe while it lasts as it is in places
much further to the northward, does not appear to
produce any markedly unfavourable effects, or to be
at all incompatible with the enjoyment of perfect
health. The experience of the Hudson Bay Company's
officers and men seems to be conclusive upon this
point. It is in these barren grounds of Northern Canada
therefore, and in other similar countries, that we so
often find these instances of people who have become so
much enamoured of an arctic climate and arctic scenery,
that they seem to prefer it to almost any other.

Many of the Hudson Bay Company's officers, in
former days, used to be stationed for years in small
trading posts, or forts, in the northern wilds, where
they were often altogether cut off from communication
with the outer world, except on the one occasion
when each season a boat or pack train arrived, bring-
ing up the Indian trade goods and other supplies for
the fort, and took away the collection of furs, made
since the previous year, on the return journey.
There were even one or two posts in the far north
where a letter took two seasons to reach them, as we
were credibly informed. Yet these men, most of them
vScotchmen, and half-breed Canadians, were generally
eminently happy and contented. A few now and then
gave up their posts, and retired in disgust; but after

LIFE IN THE HUDSON BAY TERRITORY. 367

their return to civilization, they in perhaps the majority
of cases seem to have experienced this strange
longing, of which we have spoken, which impelled
them to return to the wilds again ; and many of them
actually did so. We have repeatedly heard this
subject discussed by officers and others belonging to
the Company, when we were in the Hudson Bay
Territories, and all were unanimous in maintaining that
such was the case, and we can have no doubt whatever
of its truth.

Dr. Gordon speaking on this subject says :

" The spell of the Hudson Bay Company's service seems as
vague, though as powerful, as that which binds a sailor to
his sea-faring life, which he may often abuse, but never
abandon. Its agents may be attracted by the utter freedom
it gives, and the opportunities of sport which most of them
delight in. Ask them what fascination they find in it, and
they can hardly tell you, and they have scarcely a good word
for the service; only when an outsider finds fault with it,
they speak in its defence. And yet let them leave it for
a time and they long to come back to it." *

This coincides precisely with what we have heard and
known while out there, and similar testimony might
be cited from the works of various writers to the
same effect. Colonel Butler, a well-known writer on
military and sporting subjects, for instance, in speaking
of his recollections of some of his journeys through
these territories during the most severe season of the
year, says—

" The camp, the lonely meadow, the dim pine woods, the

* Mountain and Prairie, a journey from Victoria to Winnipeg, by
the Revd. Daniel M. Gordon, D.D., 1880, p. 137.

368 THE GREAT NORTHERN WILDERNESS.

snow-capped mountains, the mighty hush of Nature, as the
great solitude sunk at sunset into the sleep of night, all
came back to me in a thousand scenes of memory. I would
go back to it again. Ts there anything on earth better than
this wilderness? Is there aught in this short life of ours,
with less of that pleasure which is sure to turn to pain?
With less of those things which are sweet, while we toil
towards them, and bitter when they lie behind us on the
road of life?" *

Mr. Warburton Pike also in his recent work " The
Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, " is most emphatic
in insisting on the same sentiments.

" A man who has spent much of his time (he says) under
the influence of the charm which the North exercises over
everybody, wants nothing better than to finish his life in the
peace and quietness which reigns by the shores of the Great
Slave Lake. Ask the priest, when you meet him, struggling
against a head wind and driving snow, on his way to some
Indian encampment, whether he ever sighs for his sunny
France. 'No,' he will tell you. 'Here, I have everything
I want, and nothing to disturb my thoughts. I enjoy perfect
health, and feel no desire to go back to the worries of the
great world' — and so it is with the fur trader: the myste-
rious charm has a firm hold on him, and if he is in charge
of a post where provisions are fairly plentiful, and the Indians
not troublesome, he has a happy life indeed." f

Mr. Pike goes on to say that he "is writing these
concluding lines" of his book (quoted from above) in
a fashionable garret off St. James's Street, London,
surrounded by all the luxuries that only ultra-civiliza-
tion can give, without the necessity of tramping " many

* Far-out Rowings, retold by Lt.-Col. (now Maj. -General Sir) W. F.
Butler, C.B., p. 20.

•j- The Barren Grounds of Northern Canada, by Warburton Pike,
1892, p. 213.

THE GLORY OF AN ARCTIC NIGHT. 369

weary miles, on snow-shoes, before you even get a
sight of your dinner in its raw state" — and yet — he
longs to go back again to the wild hunting grounds
far out in the dim wilderness of the frozen North.

" On looking back (he says) one remembers only the good
times, when meat was plentiful, and a huge fire lit up the
snow and the spruce trees, and even now, in the midst of
luxury and civilisation., at times I have a longing to pitch
my tent once more at the edge of the Barren Ground: to
see the musk-ox standing on the snow drift, and the fat
caribou falling to the crack of the rifle ; to hear the ptarmigan
crowing among the little pines, as the sun goes down over
the frozen lake, and the glory of an arctic night commences.
To the man who is not a lover of nature, the Barren Ground
must always be a howling and desolate wilderness: but for
my part, I can understand the feeling that prompted Saltatha's
(the name of one of his Indians) answers to the worthy
priest, who was explaining to him the beauties of Heaven.
'My father you have spoken well! you have told me that
Heaven is very beautiful! tell me now one thing more. Is
it more beautiful than the country of the musk-ox, in summer,
when the mist blows over the lakes, and the water is blue,
and the loons cry very often. That is beautiful; and if
Heaven is still more beautiful, my heart will be glad; and I
shall be content to rest there till I am very old.' " *

Such in brief is the unanimous testimony of those
who have enjoyed the wild freedom of existence in
these countries, though it is notorious that the climate
of the Great Slave Lake district is one of the sever-
est in the Hudson Bay Territories, and quite as cold
in winter as almost any place that could be found;
and yet still its wild mysterious charm haunts the

* Closing paragraph of The Barren Grottnds of Northern Canada,
by Warburton Pike, 1892, p. 276.

VOL. II. 24

370 INDIANS AND ESKIMO.

traveller, amid the ease and luxury of a London dwell-
ing house.

We have thought it right to close this section with
a record of these strange yet powerful attractions,
common alike to the Indian and to the civilized man.
Such sentiments will always be found strongly devel-
oped among so-called savage races — and the Eskimo,
and all the northern tribes who live along the shores
of the great frozen sea, are deeply imbued with them.
It is not that these regions are free from their known
and serious draw-backs. Even while admitting them
to the fullest extent, it is nevertheless clear that there
is still something amid the ice and snows of the great
northern winter, which is capable of engaging the
affections of every human beholder.

So also in the animal world. Just as the Israelites
of old journeyed towards the promised land, so vast
herds of animals annually migrate, by long and painful
marches, from far off countries and sunnier climates,
to rest at length in peace, and bring forth their young
in these inaccessible wilds ; innumerable flocks of many
kinds of birds fly, as we have endeavoured to show,
literally for thousands of miles, from the southwards,
to come and nest in tranquillity amid the same, filling
the air with the voice of joy and gladness.

Even in these far-off solitudes therefore, the wild
beauties and sublimity of Nature are not displayed in vain ;
for notwithstanding all the rigours of an arctic cli-
mate, they have lost nothing of their charms — nothing
of their attractions — nothing of their glory.

CHAPTER XL

THE REGION OF THE GREAT MOUNTAIN RANGES.

Geological Changes on the Earth's Surface. Continents Raised frc m
Beneath the Ancient Seas. Basin of the Present Sea. Lands form
Elevated Plateaux Around it. Their Average Height. Mean Depth
and Area of the Ocean. The Ocean as one Continuous Liquid Expanse.
Submarine Mountain Ranges. Islands as Elevated Peaks and Plateaux.
The Question of Island Life. American Mountain Ranges. Spurs
or Lateral Ranges. The Rocky Mountain System. The Andes System.
Probable Results of Upheavals. Fossil Marine Shells Found at
Great Altitudes. The Sedimentary Rocks. The Evidences of Up-
heaval. Compression or Shrinkage. Distinction between Plutonic
and Volcanic Rocks. Contortions of Sedimentary Rocks. Sedimentary
Rocks, Raised in Situ, as Plateaux between Mountain Ridges. Par-
allel Chains. Their Elevation Probably Simultaneous. Upheaval of
the Alps. The Earth's Crust. The Age of Mountains. The Process
of Denudation. Ice Wedges. Their Effect in Loosening Rock. Ex-
panding Power of Ice. Action of Rains. Landslides. Mountains
Originally much Higher than at Present. Slopes of Detritus at Bases
of Mountains. The Indian Terai. The Great Plain of Northern India.
The Question of its Formation. Tertiary Rocks Underlying the
Indian Plain, Flexed Upwards at the Foothills of the Himalayas.
Their Fossils all Marine. Crystalline Rocks Form the Higher Peaks.
Proofs thus Furnished of the Great Antiquity of the Earth. Whence
did the Materials for the Plain Come From ? The Question of its being
the Detritus of More Ancient Ranges. Estimate of Bulk of Existirg
Asiatic Ranges.' Age of Existing Ranges. Volcanoes. Mountains
Generally not Volcanic. A Great Mountain Range the Result of some
Gigantic Convulsion of Nature. Probably a Single Operation and not
a Series ot Detached Efforts. Vast Antiquity of Mountain Ranges. Rock-
cut Gorges. Influences of Mountains on Climate. Line of Perpetual
Snow in the Tropics. Causes of Variations of Snow Lines. Himalayan
Snows. Snows on the Andes. Peruvian Droughts. The Desert
of Atacama. Region of "La Montana." Ranges of Climate on
the Slopes of the Andes. Ranges of Plant Life on Mountain
Sides. The Pass from Guayaquil to Quito. Magnificent Scenery.
The City of Quito. Trails descending into the Tropical Plains.

371

THE GREAT MOUNTAIN RANGES.

The " Tablazo " or Plains Country of Peru. " La Garua " or Fog
Season. Climate and Rainfall of Kashmir. Snow-fed Rivers and
Crops. Climate of Ladak. The " Zoji La" Pass. Climate of
Central Asia. Rapid Variations of Temperature. Sun's Rays often
more Powerful than in India. Puna or "Mountain Sickness." The
Heart's Action in Mountaineering. Effects of Rarefied Air. The
Value of Tropical Hill Stations as Sanitaria. Sudden Ascents in Cases
of Malarial Disease Unwise. Darjeeling. Mount Senchal. The Story
of the Senchal Cantonment. Magnificent Panoramas. The Gorge of
The Great Ranjit. Distant Vistas of the Indian Plains. Flowering
Shrubs and Trees. Malaria j and Ravines. Deadly Climate of the
Terai. Ravines as Conduit Pipes for the Conveyance of Malaria.
Malarial Fever in the Mountain Districts of Central Africa. Sudden
Ascents to Hills often Precipitates an Attack of Fever. Daybreak in
the Himalayas. Ascent of Fogs from the Ravines. Fog Drift across
the Crest of Ridges. Mount Everest seen from Tiger Hill. High
Mountains in Dry Plains becoming Snow-clad. The Indian Mon-
soon. The Himalayan Snows. Mountains as Rain Condensers. Snow-
Streams. Their Rock-Cutting Power. The Great Iskardoh Gorge
of the Indus. Military Strength of the Indus Frontier of N.W. India.
Attock. Sudden Floods on the Indus. Loss of Ranjit Singh's Cavalry
while Crossing a Ford. Carrying Force of Mountain Torrents. Torrents
generally Independent of Rains. Floods caused by Sun acting
on the Snows. Freshets in the Rivers of the Punjab. Sacred River
Sources in India. Sources of the Ganges. "The Sacredness of High
Places." Buddhist Temples. Rock Temples of India. Egyptian Rock
Temples. Abu Simbel. Indian Figures of Buddha. The Mountains
of Moab. Balaam's Parable. The Hill Tribes of Canaan. Splendid
Panoramas from Mountains. Looking out from the Himalayas upon the
Indian Plains. Panorama from a Central African Mountain. Mountain
Storms. Their Grandeur. Dangers of Storms at Great Altitudes. Loss
of Travellers in the Snow. Destruction of a Mule Caravan in Kashmir.
Caravans through the Khyber Pass. Great Himalayan Passes. Immense
Altitudes of Some of Them. Snow Lines of the Andes. State of Snow
at Great Altitudes. Alpine " Tourmentes. " Dust Avalanches. Ground
Avalanches. The Rush of Air with Avalanches. Geographical
Distribution of Plants on Mountains. Mountain Forests. Professor
Meyen's Phytogeographical Divisions. Range of the Banana. The
Cocoa Nut Palm. Examination of Jungle Tracts on Mountains. Limits
of Palms etc. Limits of Deciduous Trees. Conifers. The Bush Belt*
The Glacial Region. Vegetation on the Glacial Region of Chimborazo.
Earth Worms and Butterflies at Great Elevations. British Government
Expedition to Yarkand. Difficulties of Cooking at Great Elevations.
Testing Heights by Thermometers. Penetrating Nature of Cold at
Great Altitudes. Prevalence of Toothache on High Mountains. Game
at Great Altitudes. Mountain Shooting. Wild Goats and Sheep.
American Wild Sheep. Ascent of Game from the Plains in Summer
to avoid " The Fly." Pasture Lands at High Altitudes. Alpine Flowers.
Cautions to Mountain Climbers and Hunters. Concluding Remarks.

THE GREAT MOUNTAIN RANGES. 373

TV /FOUNTAINS run, as we know, in detached masses
-k*-** through all the climatic zones, and it is also a
remarkable fact that what we may call the " Axis of
Upheaval " or elevation, is from East to West in the
Eastern Hemisphere, or Old World; while in the
Western, or New World of America, it runs from North
to South: showing how the great forces of Nature
have in these cases acted almost at right angles to
each other — and also it is to be observed that they
always operate in the direction of the greatest length
of a continent.

Geology teaches us that the whole surface of the earth
has from time to time been subjected to these changes :
those portions of it which are now dry land having been
at one time submerged beneath the bed of the ancient
sea; whilst many parts now overflowed by its waters
have undoubtedly formed part of the primeval continents.
It is only necessary to point to the fact of marine shells,
corals, sea fish, and other remains being found embedded
in the rocks, which are now raised high above the
present water level, to prove that though these rocks
may, in some cases, form the tops of mountains now,
they must at some former era of the world's existence
have been buried during vast periods of time beneath
the waiters of the sea.

These considerations of course open up great ques-
tions of geological science which it would be too long
to discuss, and which are also foreign to the scope of
this work. We shall not attempt therefore to enter into
them except in the most general terms. Those who may
feel interested in such questions will find the whole subject
very fully discussed in the text books of the specialists
who have written upon it. Nevertheless there are a few

374 THE GREAT OCEANIC BASIN.

of the leading points which, we feel, will require to
be briefly noticed in this section.

In our chapter upon " The Ocean and the Inhabitants
of the Mighty Deep " we shall take occasion to point
out the enormous extent of the great region which
forms the basin of the present terrestrial sea, and the
great depth at which its bed is submerged beneath its
waters.

It is evident that could we behold this mighty basin
—which is so dramatically described in the Scriptures,
as representing the hollow of the Great Creator's
hand — and could the range of our vision extend to
its boundaries — we should see those portions of the
earth's surface which now form dry land, appearing
before us, rising from out of the depths of the ocean's
bed in the form of great mountain ranges enclosing
the basin of the present terrestrial sea, and that the
inhabited portions of the earth for the most part therefore
consist of a series of great elevated plateaux which
crown the eminences around its shores.

The edges of these lofty plateaux — averaging 15,000
feet in height — therefore, are now lapped by the mighty
waters of the ocean, which are continually beating
upon its strand, and which fill the whole of this mar-
vellous basin to its brim with that great liquid expanse
which we call the sea.

The reader will please to kindly bear in mind that
the mean depth of the ocean throughout what is known
as its "Abyssal Region" is shown to be about 2500
fathoms * — or in other words, 15,000 feet, — and that
the estimated area of this enormous region, submerged

* Introduction to the Scientific Report of the Challenger Expedition
— summary of general conclusions, p. 49.

SUBMARINE MOUNTAINS. 375

not very far from three miles beneath the surface, is
about 100 millions of square miles. * Now when we
speak of the ocean, we must endeavour to regard it
as one grand and continuous liquid expanse which
extends around the whole terrestrial globe.

Beneath its waves, it is known to possess its sub-
marine mountain ranges. When the tops of some of
them come near the surface, they are then known as
banks, or ledges of sunken rocks : in reality they form
plateaux of these submarine ranges. The tops of others,
which are higher, rise here and there above the sur-
face of the waters, and are known to us as islands:
these are merely the summits of submarine mountains
upon which weather, but especially frosts and rains, acting
during the course of ages, have levelled down many of
the inequalities, and converted the surface into soil upon
which vegetation has sprung up, leaving them in the
condition in which they are now seen to exist. Large
continental islands, on the other hand, such for instance
as Australia, are probably created by the subsidence
of areas of land which have sunk beneath the seas —
leaving them remaining detached from the main land.
The shallow nature of the present sea, studded with
numerous islands, which lies to the northward of
Australia, would appear to give colour to this theory:
there are also many questions connected with the
peculiarities of the flora and fauna, some of which are
held to be evidence in support of it, whilst others
appear rather to tell against it; but whichever way
this may be, it is certain that this subsidence — if it
occurred — took place at a very remote period of time ;

* Introduction to the Scientific Report of the Challenger Expedition
—summary of general conclusions, p. 46.

376 TERRESTRIAL MOUNTAIN RANGES.

and yet it remains a question whether this vast lapse of
geological time would be sufficient to account for the
differences which are found to exist between the plants
and animals on the Australian continent and those of
Asia — for variations are known to be always in progress,
and therefore the longer the period that has elapsed
since lands were thus separated from each other, the
greater would be the probable divergence. Whole
races of beings on one side for instance may become
extinct, while on the other they may perhaps survive,
but in a modified form. New species may also gradually
be evolved — these however are speculations which are
more properly dealt with in works specially devoted
to the consideration of this class of subjects.

Leaving now the question of submarine mountains,
and all similar considerations concerning which very
little is really known beyond the mere fact of their
existence, we approach the main subject matter of this
section, namely the great terrestrial mountain ranges
as they now exist in different parts of the world,
rising above the general level of the surrounding
land.

It would, we think, be unnecessary to enumerate a list
of them : we propose therefore merely to refer to them
in general terms, reserving certain sections of them for
more particular notice hereafter, where that may appear
to be desirable.

Let us begin with the mountains of America, as
being much less complicated than the numerous ranges
of the Eastern Hemisphere. A glance at the map shows
that a vast range extends almost without a break,
from the far north to the extreme south, right along
the whole of the western sea-board of America. This

AMERICAN MOUNTAINS. 377

we shall ask the reader to look at as a whole — and
as constituting but a single great range, though local
names have been assigned to various portions of it,
such as the Rocky Mountains, and its parallel range the
Cascade Mountains in Canada and the United States ; fur-
ther down in Mexico, it is called the " Sierra Madre "
or Mother Range, * and still further down in
South America the " Cordilleras de los Andes" or
great chain of the Andes. Mountain ranges as a
rule resemble very much in the general outline of their
ground plan the vertebra of a fish — a herring bone
in fact — the same sort of spurs or spines extending
from the main ridge on each side, as we see in the
case of a large fish bone. These spurs seem to
occur on all great mountain ranges, and often extend
out into the plains for very considerable distances.
Most of the great chains also consist of two or more
distinct ridges, running nearly parallel to each other,
and indicating, if we might venture to hazard a guess
on the subject, the existence of several lines of upheaval
acting in the same general direction.

The Rocky Mountain system of North America for
example, is supposed to be " the result of four specially
marked upheavals; the first at the close of the car-
boniferous,— the second at the close of the trias, — the
third at the close of the cretaceous, — and the fourth
during the tertiary epoch, " of which " the first and
third were the most general in their effects;" f

* The word " Sierra " in Spanish, strictly translated means " a saw "
from the supposed resemblance between the teeth of a saw and the
jagged crests of the mountains.

t The Origin of Mountain Ranges in relation to Geology and Historv
etc., by T. Mellard Reade, C.E., 1886, pp. 47 and 48.

378 THE UPHEAVAL OF MOUNTAINS.

and the Andes for the greater part of its extent—
"consists of two parallel chains whose crests are separated
by broad plateau-like valleys, from 20 to 60 miles wide, and
from 8000 to 13,000 feet high. Near the northern termination
there are three diverging chains instead of two, and near the
southern there is but one. Numerous cross swells connect
the ranges, separating the high valley into a number of distinct
basins." *

It now seems to be regarded almost as a matter of
ascertained fact that the great mountain chains of the
world are the results of upheavals which have taken
place from time to time from within the crust of the
earth; and we think that this is susceptible of proof
so clear, that it would be difficult to refute the truth
of the proposition.

There is the incontrovertible fact, for instance, " that
all the great mountain chains on the globe were originally
part of the sea bottom;" f this is shown beyond the
possibility of a doubt by the presence of numerous
marine shells existing in the rocks of which the
mountains are built up: such shells are found in the
Alps "at heights of 10,000 feet or more over sea
level." In the Rocky Mountains at " a height of 1 1,000
feet," and in the Himalayas "at 16,500 feet." § More-
over the rocks in which these fossil remains of the
ancient sea are thus found are sedimentary rocks —
that is to say, strata gradually formed during ages
by the deposit of water. It is evident that this must

* The Origin of Mountain Ranges in relation to Geology and History
etc, by T. Mellard Reade, C.E., 1886, p. 66.

-j- Extract from a Lecture on " Mountain Architecture " delivered by
Professor Sir A. Geikie at the City Hall, Glasgow, 27 th Jan. 18/6, publ.
1877, p. ii.

§ Ibid., p. 12.

EVIDENCES OF THE UPHEAVAL OF MOUNTAINS. 379

be so, because many of the shells, corals, algce, etc.,
(all of which are of marine origin) are of an exceedingly
delicate nature which a rude touch of any kind would
have instantly destroyed; the conclusion is therefore
irresistible that they were originally embedded in these
strata, when they were in the state of soft mud, or
ooze, which subsequently under compression, has
hardened into rock. Consequently, these rocks must
at some period of the earth's existence, have occupied
a position at the bottom of the sea — consequently,
the period of their deposit by the sea must have
preceded the period when the mountains were upheaved
— consequently, when the mountains were formed it
must have been by the process of upheaval from
below, and not by subsidence from above — consequently,
also, this must have occurred at a comparatively recent
period of geological time, as the sedimentary strata
are known to be among the last which have been
deposited in point of geological time.

These results, as we humbly venture to suggest,
seem to follow almost as a matter of mathematical cer-
tainty— indeed the traces of upheaval are often clearly
borne upon the face of the rocks themselves; for they
are found to be contorted, twisted, and folded over
upon each other, or upon themselves, exactly like the
leaves of a book that has been forcibly bent.

An examination of the plates, given in almost any
geological work, of the contortions assumed by these
rocks, will clearly show that this is so ; * but when
we proceed to seek for the causes of these mighty

* See for instance the plates in Mellard Reade's book on The
Origin of Mountain Ranges ; see also Sir Charles Lyell's Elements of
Geology, 1865, fig. 65, p. 50.

380 EXTRUSION OF PLUTONIC ROCKS.

upheavals, we are then more or less enveloped in the
domain of speculation.

How did the great event come to pass? We ven-
ture to suggest that mountain ranges are simply ridges,
or creases, formed upon the earth's surface by com-
pression, and shrinkage occurring in its crust, as its
exterior surface cooled. Shrinkage caused a crack, or
fissure to form ; while compression caused plutonic
rocks, existing in a molten condition within the earth's
surface, to extrude, and these rising in a soft but not
in a fluid state, through the fissure, formed the heart,
or core, of the mountains — and this is exactly what is
found to occur in the structural formation of all great
mountain ranges: the granites and other crystalline
rocks form the central and higher portions of the rid-
ges: that is to say the mountain peaks — while the
sedimentary, or fossil bearing rocks, through which
they have been forced, form the exterior sides, and
bases — the slopes of the hills in fact.

We must here explain that the plutonic rocks (to
which allusion is made above) differ from the volcanic
rocks, in that the latter always seem to overflow in a
fluid state, like lava from volcanoes, and are generally
therefore found to be overlying the newer rocks through
which they have been ejected; whereas the plutonic
rocks (comprehending all the granites, certain porphyries,
and the crystalline schists) rarely or never do so. *
It seems probable therefore that they are forced up
from below by compression, in a soft or plastic state ;
they thus rise up aloft and form mountain peaks,
but do not overflow, like lava. Moreover, though

* See passages in the Elements of Geology, by Sir Charles Lyeli,
pp. 7 and 8.

ACTION OF VOLCANOES. 381

volcanoes have been in constant action since the dawn
of history, and long before it, yet the elevation of hills
by their agency has always been a very slow and
partial process. The history of the best known volcanoes
is decisive as to this. Therefore as a factor in the
creation of mountain ranges, their action may be regarded
almost as infinitesimal. Moreover so far as is known,
except in the case of a certain number of peaks in the
Andes and some few others, very few of the highest moun-
tains have ever been volcanoes, also the high ridges
and peaks of the majority of mountain ranges are very
generally known to consist of the plutonic, and not of
volcanic rocks.

Now at the time when these rocks burst through
the overlying sedimentary strata, in the way described,
the edges of the latter were forcibly bent up on
each side of the gap, so as to form, as they do
now, the exterior and lower slopes of the mountains,
which rest upon the core of older crystalline rocks,
thus forced up through them ; and so, as we humbly
venture to suggest, the great systems of mountain
ranges upon our earth were originally built up.

It is however true that instances may be cited where
the older sedimentary rocks are found occasionally
occupying positions on the tops of mountains, and the
interpretation we should be inclined to put upon that
fact is, that these rocks were in such cases simply
bulged up by the force from below, which would seem
at that point to have lacked sufficient power to burst
through, and so therefore did not pierce the superin-
cumbent mass. In other cases where an enormous
display of force seems to have manifested itself, and
where in consequence the upheaval of two or more

382 GREAT MOUNTAIN PLATEAUX.

parallel ridges seems to have taken place simultaneously,
considerable areas of these sedimentary rocks are often
found to have been entirely separated from the rest
of these strata, and carried up so as to occupy the
floors of the valleys or high plateaux which in such
cases are generally found to fill the spaces between
the ridges. Magnificent examples of these elevated
plateaux are to be found in Thibet, where they extend
for hundreds of miles, at an altitude averaging say
about 16,500 feet above the level of the sea. Other
instances, second only to those of Thibet, are to be
found in the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, where vast
table lands exist, ranging from 1 1,000 to 14,000 feet
above sea level, surrounded by some of the grandest
mountain scenery to be found in the world. *

In the case of adjacent and parallel chains of moun-
tains, of which there are such numerous instances, the
question will naturally arise — was the upheaval of these
several chains simultaneous ? — or did it occur at differ-
ent periods of time? Of course the reply must be to
a great extent conjectural; nevertheless, careful
scientific observers have come to the conclusion that
the balance of probabilities appears to require an affirm-
ative answer. In the case of the Alps, a chain of
mountains which has been the subject of much more
general and careful study than any other, the evidence
In support of the hypothesis of simultaneous upheaval
seems very strong.

"The broad fact (says Dr. Ball) that the same sedimen-
tary deposits, varying very little in mineral character, extend

* See paper by Colonel Trotter, R.E., giving an account of the journey
of the Pundit Nain Sing in Great Thibet from Leh in Ladakh to Llasa ;
in Journal of Royal Geographical Society, Vol. 47, p. 9.

STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 383

over very considerable spaces on the same side of the mountain
chain and are often found in the troughs separating parallel
groups, offers a strong argument in favour of the belief that
the process of upheaval, proceeded simultaneously, if not along
the entire line, at least over a very wide area." *

And again he proceeds to point out —
" When we find the same sedimentary rocks lying in the
same order and superposition on the outer slopes of the
parallel ridges, and in the trough between them (a relation
which holds good to a great extent in a section taken from
the Val Ferrex across the range of Mont Blanc and the
Aiguilles Rouges), we are entitled to infer the cotemporaneous
elevation of both ridges." f

Dr. Ball then goes on to show that there are several
portions of the Alps where this same thing occurs, and
where a similar method of reasoning leads the mind
to a like conclusion, and he quotes a notable instance
where it is found that

"the stratified rocks on the opposite sides of the 'Belledonne '
group are so similar in their composition and arrangement,
as to lead to the inference that they must, at one period,
have formed portions of a continuous mass," §

indeed surveys in some cases seem to show that strata
thus divided by the extrusion of a mountain chain,
would fit back into their places almost exactly, if the
mountains were quietly lowered beneath the earth's
surface.

We thus see that the vast preponderance of evidence
is all in favour of the hypothesis of the upheaval of
mountain ranges by matter forced up from below

* The Alpine Guide (to Central Alps), by John Ball, F.R.S., page
xciii of Introduction.

f Ibid., p. xciii of Introduction.
§ Ibid., p. xciii of Introduction.

384 THE CRUST OF THE EARTH.

which pierces through the superincumbent strata, and
in so doing, flexes them into various shapes upon its
external slopes : and that the probabilities also are that
each of the great mountain chains of the world is
created by a more or less simultaneous movement of
the earth along the main axis of its elevation.

The vastness of this operation may cause the minds
of some to stagger at the contemplation of it, but it
must be borne in mind how small is the proportion
which even the mightiest mountain range bears to the
whole bulk of the globe. Thus according to Herschel
"the earth contains 259,373 millions of cubic miles "
of matter, * and the bulk of what is known as the crust
of the earth is estimated by Mr. Mellard Reade, C.E.,
as equal to only about -^-g^^ Part °f ^at °f tne wn°le
globe. The crust of the earth has thus aptly been
described as bearing a proportion to the earth itself
somewhat as the rind of an orange does to the entire
fruit ; and the proportion borne by mountains, compared
with the earth's crust is so minute that Sir John
Herschel likens it

" to the roughness on the rind of an orange, compared
with its general mass. The comparison (he states) is quite
free from exaggeration, because the highest known mountain
hardly exceeds 5 miles in perpendicular height. This (Sir
John Herschel points out) is only one i6ooth part of the
earth's diameter, consequently on a globe 16 inches in diameter
such a mountain would be represented by a protuberance of
no more than one hundredth part of an inch, which is about
the thickness of ordinary drawing paper. " f

* Outlines of Astronomy, by Sir John Herschel, New Edition of 1 88 1,
p. 560.

•j- Ibid., p. 23.

MOUNTAINS AS TYPES OF ANTIQUITY. 385

Hitherto we have confined our observations to the
aspect of mountains in their structural capacity ; we
now propose to take a brief survey of their history,
subsequent to their upheaval.

Mountains have usually been regarded as the very
types of antiquity, solidity, and everlasting endurance :
so that the expressions " as old as the hills, " or " immo-
vable as the mountains, " have become proverbial.
Nevertheless scientific observation teaches us that it is
necessary to regard such phrases merely as so many
figures of speech; for in very truth, from the moment
of their upheaval the process of disintegration began
and has ever since been going on without intermis-
sion, and it is easy to show that the law of change
has constantly operated upon them, not one whit less
remorselessly than it has done and is doing, upon
everything that exists on earth ; thus, time " that
turneth all to dust " is slowly but not the less surely
wearing away the everlasting hills, till eventually it
will again reduce them to the level of the plain.

The process by which this is being effected is known
as Denudation.

" You may deem a well known mountain form (says Professor
Geikie) perfect and well nigh eternal. Perfect it may be,
in the majesty of its mass, and the symmetry of its sweep-
ing lines;— but eternal! no. Climb its sides; and you find
proof on every hand that the great World-Sculptor is not
done with it; and that in spite of its look of placid rest, it
receives a fresh chiselling every year." *

The operations of Nature, the Professor proceeds to

* Mountain Architecture, a Lecture delivered in the City Hall,
Glasgow, by Professor Sir Archibald Geikie, 27th January 1876.
Published 1877, p. 19.

VOL. II. 25

386 DESTRUCTIVE AGENCIES UPON MOUNTAINS.

point out, are in this respect " continuous, nor have
we reason to suppose that they differ materially from
age to age." * Then he goes on to pass in review
four of the principal agencies which are thus at work,
namely — (i) Ice wedges. (2) Snow and glaciers. (3) Rain,
and (4) Rivers. We shall however at present content
ourselves with merely glancing at the operation of the
first of these — the ice wedges. Water lodges in the
joints of the rocks and there freezes.

" In freezing it expands and tends to push the walls of the
joints apart. If by chance a thaw should come, followed by
a return of the frost, a further expansion would take place.
This process repeated many times goes on season after season :
until at last the cohesion of the mass is destroyed, and down
goes a thundering heap of ruin to the base of the cliff.
Thousands of tons of rock are thus dislodged from the sides
of the higher mountains, and sent to strew the slopes all along
the bottoms of the valleys." f

The reader will thus see the enormous influence
of that one single agency in reducing the grandest
mountain peaks to a heap of ruins; the stupendous
power of expansion exercised by water in turning
to ice is something almost incredible. In practice there
is nothing that can resist it. Water, as we know,
attains its greatest density at 39.2° Fahr., after which
it slowly expands, until a temperature of 32° F. is
reached, at which point congelation takes place;
and in freezing — " it suddenly expands about one-
eleventh of its bulk, with almost irresistible power; and
a pressure as high as 28,000 Ibs. to the square inch

* Mountain Architecture, a Lecture delivered in the City Hall,

Glasgow, by Professor Sir Archibald Geikie, 27th January 1876.
Published 1877, p. 19.

•j- Professor Sir A. Geikie in Ibid., p. 20.

ICE WEDGES. 387

has been estimated as having been produced by it." *
Every time therefore, that the water freezes in the
crevices of the rocks, this mighty force is at work,
and tends bit by bit to dislodge them from their places,
so that in the end disruption is certain; and a mass
of ruins, as Professor Geikie has pointed out, is precipi-
tated into the plains below; in consequence a ramp of
debris is always found occupying the base of cliffs and
rocky slopes, and roads constructed across high passes
are also more or less obstructed in this way every
winter by falls of stone and gravel, occasioning great
expense in clearing and keeping them open.

The action of rains in causing slides of earth, clay,
and even rock, is well known to everyone, and the late
serious disaster to the village of Sandgate near Folke-
stone in Kent, is merely another example of a land
slide on a more than usually extensive scale, f

The subsidence of the Undercliff in the southern
part of the Isle of Wight furnishes a further instance
of vastly greater proportions, but this event is of
ancient date, and is supposed to have been aided by
the action of the sea operating upon the soft clays
underlying the chalk and greensand in that locality.
These instances of extensive earth slides are however,
as we know, comparatively rare, whereas the slower
processes of denudation are always in operation, and
in one form or another, it may be accepted as certain
that these forces of Nature are unceasingly at work,
grinding and wearing away the hills, and filling up
the valleys; and so reducing to a level the various

* Scientific American of July 6, 1889.

y This event occurred on the night of March 4, 1893, after a period
of heavy rains — more than 200 houses were wholly or partly destroyed.

388 THE FOOT-HILLS OF MOUNTAINS.

inequalities with which the earth's surface is studded.
Hence it appears to follow that the great mountain
chains of the world were in all probability, originally
much higher and more abrupt in their slopes than they
are at present, as the constant falls of material must,
in the course of ages, have caused considerable alterations
to have taken place in their contours. This wearing
away of the higher peaks has also of course tended to
fill the valleys with a level floor of detritus covered
with deep alluvial soils, such as we find so often to
exist between the spurs and parallel ranges of mountain
chains — large quantities of these materials again, have
been carried down into the plains, in the form of gravel,
sand and mud, by the streams which are generally
found to occupy the beds of nearly all extensive valleys
and ravines.

Consequently the foot-hills extending along the bases
of great mountain ranges are always found to consist
of long slopes formed of deposits of such materials.
In many places such foot-hills are covered with luxuriant
forest growths. Lands of this kind, in their natural
state, possess great fertility, on account of the depth
and richness of the soil washed down upon them from
the hill sides above. Consequently therefore, inasmuch
as great wealth of vegetation always goes hand in
hand with the existence of malaria, in tropical regions,
these localities are in most cases hotbeds of per-
nicious fevers of malarial type in warm climates,
and some of the most deadly neighbourhoods in the
world occur under such conditions. The wide district
known as the " Terai " will probably present itself to the
minds of our Indian friends, as a striking instance in point.

The Terai (including the Bhabar) is a belt of fertile

THE TERAI REGION. 389

forest and swamp land, answering exactly to this de-
scription, extending along the southern base of the
eastern part of the great Himalayan range for a dis-
tance of some 90 miles and varying from 20 to 25
miles in breadth ; the superficial area of the whole may
be roughly estimated at about 2000 square miles. This
region which is usually spoken of generally as " The
Terai, " in reality consists of two distinct belts. The
forest belt which lies close to the mountain foot is
known as the Bhabar. Here the water for the most
part disappears below the surface and filters through
the gravels beneath it, as far as the edge of the Terai
proper, or swamp belt, where it bursts forth in a series
of springs which inundate the land and form succes-
sions of pools and swamps which are in most cases
surrounded by high reeds and grasses. Finally the
surplus waters flow away in streams, to join the rivers
of the plain. From its known highly malarious char-
acter, the Terai is for the most part abandoned to a
state of Nature, it therefore forms the resort of most
of the larger and more wary kinds of Indian game,
which makes this district one of the best hunting
countries in Hindustan, where excellent sport may still
be obtained by the adventurous sportsman. To attempt
to hunt there however in the sickly season, would of
course be madness; but in the hot weather towards
the conclusion of the dry season fevers are much less
rife than at other times. This latter period is therefore
the time selected by sportsmen for their excursions.

Lovers of wild sceneiy visiting the Terai will be
charmed with the richness and beauty of the vegetation
of the forest belt, where every now and again superb
vistas of the mighty Himalayan range may be enjoyed,

3 QO THE GREAT PLAIN OF NORTHERN INDIA.

at openings on the edges of ravines and other places
which afford advantageous standpoints for obtaining
good views.

Of the Indian plain itself which skirts the southern
edge of the Terai, in this chapter on great mountain
ranges, we need say but little, except this: that when
we come to regard this latter immense territory, as
we shall have to do in our next chapter, as a region
formed in some way by the deposit of water, grave
questions arise as to where all the material came from
to level off this enormous region, seeing that the great
plain of Northern India extends in an almost unbroken
surface across the whole of Northern Hindustan. Its
apparently absolutely flat character has thus far proved
somewhat of a geological puzzle to account for. It looks
as if it must have been deposited by the sea, and yet, as
we hope to show hereafter, this is highly improbable.
That being so, and if we reject that hypothesis, some
other agency must be sought for to explain, if that
be possible, how this gigantic area was levelled and
brought into its present flat and ocean like condition.
Careful examination of the land shows that it consists
of a vast " alluvial deposit of sandy clay, on the surface
of which nothing in the shape of a pebble can be
found, except in the immediate vicinity of the hills. " *
The stones, as we here see, remain near the mountains'
foot and the lighter stuff goes to form the plain. From
whence then were these enormous, incalculable amounts
of alluvial detritus derived, spread over 500,000 square
miles of superficial area ? Can it be that at some
distant epoch, other great mountain chains may have
been in existence, which time, fretting like a moth

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edit., Vol. xi, p. 827 (Article "Himalaya").

OBLITERATED MOUNTAIN CHAINS. 391

throughout the lapse of ages, has gradually ground
down into dust by means of agencies such as we have
already hinted at: so that the only trace that they
once existed is now furnished by the mass of detritus
which has been spread out, as butter is spread over
bread, to form the surface of the great plain of Nor-
thern India?

It is more than probable. — Without going so far as
to assert that this was so, we believe that this hypo-
thesis would to a great extent explain the source from
whence all this material was derived. The whole
question is however one of probability and circum-
stantial evidence, and this, we humbly venture to
suggest may furnish a clue to its solution. But if so,
what a marvellous idea does it exhibit of the enormous
antiquity of the earth.

Let the intelligent reader try to picture to himself
if he can, the immense periods of time which this
process must have taken to carry out. What shall we
say? Does it represent epochs extending over millions
of years? If so how many millions? Was it tens, or
was it hundreds, of millions? In the contemplation of
the phenomena of Nature, the student constantly finds
himself met by these and other similarly perplexing
problems, respecting the vastness of geological time,
and the mighty changes which the features of the
landscape that at present meets our gaze must have
undergone during the lapse of an eternal past.

It may be answered that such events of incalculable
magnitude extending over epochs of such enormous
durations are inconceivable and impossible !

Why should we deem them to be so? If we com-
pare the proportion of even the greatest mountain

3Q2 PROPORTION OF MOUNTAINS TO EARTH'S BULK.

range with that of the terrestrial globe, how small a
thing does it appear! It is merely, as we have said,
like the roughness on the rind of an orange, when
compared to that of the fruit itself. * A mere abrasion,
so to speak, rubs it off.

And again it has been estimated by Humboldt
that if the whole of the mountains now existing in
Asia were reduced to powder and spread evenly over
its surface, it would not add more than 150 feet to
the general level of that continent, f Yet we know
that not only in Asia, but also generally over the
whole surface of the terrestrial globe, change has suc-
ceeded change: and deposits which incontestably were
created by the deposit of still water, such as the ocean
or some mighty lake, have been formed extending over
enormous areas which represent not merely 150 feet,
but many thousands of feet in thickness. From whence
did the materials to form these proceed, if not from
detritus carried down by the action of natural forces
from higher levels.

Now in considering the probable age of existing
mountain ranges, the whole of those considerations
crop up before us afresh ; and we can have little doubt
that though existing mountain ranges are of vast antiquity,
in an historical sense, yet they are new in a geological
sense. This is proved by the fact of their bursting
through those numerous series of stratified rocks of
modern foundation which were (as the fossil remains
in them show) created by the deposits of water. For
this purpose it matters not whether the mountains are

* See observations on this point in Outlines of Astronomy, by Sir
John Herschel. Edition of 1881, p. 23.

j- See Advanced Text Book of Physical Geography, by David Page,
3rd Edition, 1883, p. 71.

PARALLEL CHAINS.

regarded as the creation of a single mighty convulsive
throe of Nature, or whether they are supposed to have
been gradually pushed up by forces working from
beneath to their present height. The fact that they
have forced their way up through these overlying
strata is unquestionable. Personally however, we think
the balance of probabilities leads strongly to the sup-
position that each of the great mountain ranges of the
wrorld were the result of some vast and simultaneous
extrusion of matter along their chains, which has taken
place comparatively recently from a geological point
of view: and that this upheaval would seem to be the
work of a single operation and not that of a number
of desultory efforts spread over long periods of time. It is
this latter hypothesis alone which we are desirous of
combating, and we shall proceed to give reasons
for this our belief.

A reference to the map will show that the main
ridges of the great mountain chains of the world are
drawn in more or less continuous lines. It is true that
there are frequently several distinct ridges, forming
parts of the same chain, but if so, they are almost
always drawn parallel to each other, indicating that
the forces of upheaval were uniformly acting in the
same direction. These facts seem to us to furnish a
very strong argument in favour of the supposition that
the whole movement was a simultaneous one, and not
a series of detached movements made at different
times. Had these great ranges been constructed bit
by bit, at various epochs, this striking regularity of
form could hardly have occurred by chance, repeated
as it is in all of the principal mountain ranges on each
of the great continents. Then there is this peculiar

394 SEDIMENTARY ROCKS IN MOUNTAIN VALLEYS.

fact to which we have already drawn attention, of
areas of the sedimentary rocks being bodily carried
up into the valleys, between the principal ridges, and
left lying there in the same order in which they exist
beneath the plain; and we agree with Mr. Ball in
regarding this as strong evidence of the simultaneous
upheaval of both ridges — furthermore these sedimen-
tary rocks being of the tertiary period in most cases,
it follows that their elevation is of more recent date
than they are. Thus in the opinion of the superinten-
dent of the geological survey of India, and other
officers of that department, the Himalayas are " generally
supposed to have been upraised in late tertiary times." *
The Encyclopedia Britannica takes the same view, f
In closing this brief survey of the probable origin
of mountains, a few words as to their vast antiquity
from the point of view of historical \\n\e may be desirable.
Modern though they certainly are, when compared
with the mighty epochs represented by geological time,
we venture to assert that their watercourses supply
ample evidence to establish the great antiquity of existing
mountain ranges: for a ridge once formed upon the
earth's surface will remain the watershed of the surround-
ing country for untold ages; and no observant man
can have examined the gorges issuing from a great
mountain range, cut as they frequently are for hundreds
of feet perpendicularly through the living rock, without
being impressed with the vast periods of time which
the water must have taken to wear away such conduits.

* Manual of the Geology of India, compiled from the Observations of
the Indian Surveys, by order of the Government of India, by H. B.
Medlicott, superintendent, and W. T. Blandford, F.R.S., published
Calcutta 1875, Part n, chap, xxii, p. 520.

•j- See Encyclopaedia Britannica, gth Edition, Vol. xi., p. 828.

MOUNTAIN CHAINS AND RIVERS. 395

" The land may increase or diminish in area ; river systems
may be flexed ; but the strong ridge drawn across a continent
by a mountain range, will remain through all these revolutions
of time a great divide that the rivers cannot pass. Rivers
frequently run parallel with, or between mountain ridges
and ranges for long distances ; and then break through them,
but rarely or never bisect them." *

Notable instances of such rivers are to be found in
the Himalayan system, as a glance at the map at once
shows, and it may be that though these great moun-
tains may have been upraised in late tertiary times,
still it seems probable hundreds of thousands, it may even
be millions of years have come and gone, since these
mighty ranges of snow-clad peaks assumed their
present aspect in all its leading features.

Leaving now the question of the origin of mountain
ranges, let us briefly consider them in their aspect
as factors in the regulation of climates. When we
consider how small a thing they are in comparison
with the earth itself, their influence in this respect is
very much more considerable than might otherwise have
been expected.

It is generally supposed that an increase in eleva-
tion of about 300 feet is sufficient to produce a fall in
the temperature of about one degree Fahrenheit — one
thousand feet would therefore represent something more
than 3 degrees. Viewed in this light, it must be obvious
that a lofty mountain range in the equatorial regions
will represent every variety of temperature existing
from the equator to the pole. The line of perpetual
snow may be fixed in tropical regions at an altitude

* The Origin of Mountain Ranges, by T. Mellard Reade, C.E., 1886,
pp. 306—7.

396 TROPICAL SNOW LINES.

somewhere about 16,000 feet over sea level; but this
is liable to be modified by local causes — that is to say
it rarely comes down much lower than that, but owing
to the set of the prevalent winds and the aspect of
the mountain slopes, it is sometimes pushed consider-
ably higher up, say to 17,000 or even 18,000 feet. Thus
on the Bolivian Andes the line of perpetual snow has been
fixed at 16,000 feet.* The mean result of Humboldt's
observations made in the equatorial regions of South
America a century ago, gave almost similar results.
He fixed it then at 15,748 feet. Furthermore on the
Himalayas, the Indian surveys show that on their
southern face the snow line ranges from 15,000 to
1 6,000 feet. This is mainly due to the influence of the
winds that come up from the plains, charged with
moisture, which is here precipitated in the form of snow ;
they then pass northwards, as dry cold air, mainly de-
prived of their moisture; with the result that on the
higher plateaux of the Indian watershed, the altitude
of the snow line rises to 18,500 feet, while on the
great table-land of Thibet on their northern or reverse
face it reaches about 20,000 feet, f This affords us an
admirable instance of the immense influence which high
mountains always exert upon climate. At these great
altitudes rain very generally falls in the form of snow.
When the monsoons burst in torrents of rain upon
the great plain of Northern India therefore, the water
falling upon the higher Himalayas, does so as snow
—and the intensity of the cold created by the upcast
of the aereal currents into the higher regions of the

* See Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel for Central
and South America, edited by H. W. Bates, 1878, p. 207.

f See Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xi, p 83 1 (Article " Himalaya ").

INFLUENCE OF MOUNTAINS ON CLIMATE. 397

atmosphere, as the winds flow over the summits of the
snowy range — wrings them so completely dry of moisture
that the snow-fall is very much less upon the northern
slopes of the Himalayas than it is upon their southern face.

But it is perhaps in South America where this may
be witnessed in the most striking form of all. To the
eastward of the Cordilleras the climate is for the most
part of an exceedingly damp and rainy character, and the
luxuriance of the tropical forest growth upon their eastern
slopes is therefore correspondingly conspicuous, yet
the winds in crossing the snow-clad heights so com-
pletely lose their water-bearing capacity, that almost
no rain falls to the westward and much of the country
in Peru, Bolivia, and Northern Chili, is in consequence
perishing for want of water. It is in fact impossible
to conceive two countries more essentially different in
appearance and climate than those lying in the same
parallel of latitude, to the eastward, and to the west-
ward, of the Andes. At Lima, the capital of Peru,
for instance, though if we mistake not we once saw
a shower fall there, it is said that, scarcely a drop of rain
ever falls, though there is now and then a strong dew, as
may be perceived of a morning by the still moist roofs.

Nearly the whole of the plains country in Peru is subject
to these extraordinary droughts, and constitutes what
may almost be termed a rainless district. " Long intervals
of time succeed each other without a sin gle drop of rain
falling on the thirsty soil, and showers are as rare phenom-
ena as the appearance of a comet, or an earthquake. " *

Bolivia, the adjoining republic to the southwards, is
even still more afflicted by drought, and a great deal

* Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel in Central and
South America. Edited by H. W. Bates, 1878, p. 269.

398 THE ANDES RANGE.

of that country is an absolute waterless desert. The
desert of Atacama, a wide district, rainless, herbless, and
hopeless, forms a portion of Bolivia where, though as in
all deserts, torrential rains do sometimes fall, still it
is said to be a fact that such an event does not occur
more than once in every 20 years, or perhaps in every
50 years; * and yet in the "Hinterland, " that is to say
the region behind these countries on the other side of
the mountains eastwards of the Andes, forests
of surpassing luxuriance, and well- watered lands of
very great fertility, exist almost everywhere. Compa-
ratively little is however known of this country (gener-
ally spoken of as the region of "La Montana"} which
is cut off from communications with the Atlantic
seaboard by the wide extent of the Brazilian dominions
which intervene between it and the sea, a great
deal of which are still a terra incognita; while to
the westward the mighty range of the Cordilleras
blocks the way quite as completely, and is only to be
crossed by means of very elevated passes, practicable
merely for pack animals, where little or nothing has
been done in the way of constructing permanent
roadways; nevertheless enough is known to show the
generally extremely fertile character of the country
eastward of the Andes, a great part of which is
covered with forests, whose productions, so far as they
have been explored, appear to be second to none other
on earth. It was from these forests for instance, that
the far-famed Peruvian bark (Cinchona Calisayd), that
inestimable boon to humanity, was obtained, and is
still to be found growing wild in great abundance—

* Stanford's Co mpendium of Geography and Travel in Central and
South America. Edited by H. W. Bates, 1878, p. 199.

THE MONTANA REGION OF PERU. 399

together with many other valuable products of different
kinds. This trans- Andean province of Peru there can be
little doubt will one day assume its proper place, as the
most valuable of all the possessions of the Peruvian Re-
public. It is here too that the head waters of the great
river Amazon (called the Maranon by the Peruvians)
take their rise, and flow almost uninterruptedly by
navigable channels to the Atlantic.

In our section on the great river systems of the world
we hope to be able to furnish more specific details as
to these South American rivers ; a glance at the map
is however sufficient to show the vastly more numerous
and more important nature of the streams that issue
from the Andes, on their eastern watershed, when
compared with those that do so on the other side.

With the exception of the river Guayes in Ecuador,
which is navigable for 70 or 80 miles and falls into
the sea at Guayaquil — there is no other river of im-
portance which reaches the ocean upon the Pacific
seaboard of South America ; many of the other streams
flow westward for a certain distance from the mountains,
and then become dried up, and lost in the plains ;
while others merely reach the sea, in the dry season,
as insignificant rivulets. At many of the sea ports on
the western coast (such is the intensity of the drought)
the principal building in the town consists of the
Water Factory, or place where the supply of drinking
water is distilled from the sea, and sold to the inhabi-
tants for their daily consumption.

This remarkable state of things may, as we venture to
believe, be set down entirely to the influence exercised
by the great range of the Andes upon the climate of
South America, where the prevailing set of the winds

400 THE RAINLESS REGION OF SOUTH AMERICA.

is from the eastward, and these mountains, as we
have already explained, cause the precipitation of vapour
carried by trade winds in invisible and impalpable form
from the Atlantic ocean, to take place almost entirely
on their opposite or eastern slopes, and so the desic-
cation of the western seaboard is brought about.

" Although (says the Encyclopedia Britannica in its article
upon the Himalayas) the loftiest mountains when compared
with the earth's diameter are insignificant; and the irregularities
of surface would hardly be perceptible on any sphere however
large, that could be made to represent the earth ; yet heights
such as those reached by the Himalayas, introduce modifications
of climate that are not surpassed by those observed in moving
from the equator to the poles. One half of the total mass
of the atmosphere, and three quarters of the water suspended
in it, lie below their average elevation; and of the residue,
one half the air, and virtually almost all the vapour, come
within the influence of the highest peaks."

The truth of this hypothesis is beautifully illustrated
by the condition of the Pacific seaboard of South
America, and it is hardly too much to say that it renders
the meteorology of the Andes region perhaps the most
remarkable and instructive of any other in the world.

And not only does this mountain range exercise
this commanding influence upon the rainfall of the
country, but it also, by reason of its great elevation,
creates upon its slopes a range of climate which em-
braces every possible variation of temperature. The
principal part of this range passes directly through the
whole breadth of the southern tropical regions and
also extends through a considerable portion of those
lying to the northward of the equator — so that it

'* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xi, p. 829 (Article "Himalaya").

THE FLORA OF THE ANDES. 401

affords in this respect incomparably the best conditions
for the study of the geographical range of plants as
influenced by altitude — but it is to be feared that there
is yet a great deal to be said and done before the
flora of the Andes can be considered to have been
exhaustively investigated. A good deal of their western
slopes in Peru and Chili are of a very barren character,
consisting in many places of vast ranges of volcanic
sand and gravels which appear when viewed in the
distance to be wholly devoid of vegetation ; on a nearer
approach however, this illusion is dispelled by finding
considerable areas dotted over with grasses and many
kinds of plants; while in ravines along the course of
streams dwarf trees and bush ascend to considerable
elevations, but it is on the eastern side almost exclu-
sively that luxuriant growths are common. Towards the
northern part of the continent however, from Panama
downwards to the southern limits of Ecuador in the
region of the equatorial rains, the country is generally
covered with forest on both sides of the mountains, and
presents a rich and varied appearance. To form an
idea of the wealth of the tropical vegetation of this
region, a splendid excursion may be made from
Guayaquil to Quito, a distance of about 160 miles,
which in our day had to be performed on horseback,
and took some eight or ten days to do. The road
leads mostly through the forest, along the slopes of
the Chimborazo, a volcano 21,424 feet in height. * The
scenery is magnificent, and the traveller passes through
every variation of climate, from the sweltering heat of
Guayaquil to the city of Quito, situated at an altitude

* Encyd. Brit., Vol. ii, p. 17 (Art. "Andes").
VOL. II. 26

402 QUITO, THE MOUNTAIN CITY.

of 9520 feet above the level of the sea, * where the
mean annual temperature is only 55° Fahr., though the
Equator is supposed to pass as nearly as possible
through the town— or a very little to the north of it
as some say.

Here, in the close proximity to the snow-clad peaks,
the traveller may enjoy the climate of an English spring,
under a sky of matchless purity. From Quito trails lead
quickly down from the tableland to the zone of tropical
heats ; and the fruit markets, for which the town is cele-
brated, are well supplied not only with all the best fruits
of the temperate zone, but also the finest varieties of
tropical growth, in great profusion. Quito is thus
specially referred to, as furnishing a striking example
of the all-powerful influence exercised by mountains
upon climate; for here, in this zone of highest normal
temperatures, it thus becomes possible for the visitor
to enjoy any range of heat or cold that he may desire.
He may live at Guayaquil in a torrid climate, where
the mean temperature of the year is as high as almost
anywhere on earth, or he may ascend to Quito, where
exactly upon the equator, it is that of the colder tem-
perate zone, or still higher, where he at length enters
into the region of perpetual snow.

The rapid change from the evergreen equatorial
zone to the desert, is singularly striking in South
America, as almost immediately we leave the southern
limits of the region of continuous rains, the dry plains
begin. The cause of this, it can hardly be doubtful,
is entirely due to the influence of the mountains, whose
great altitudes have as we have stated, intercepted

* Encycl. Brit,, Vol. xx, p. 189 (Art. "Quito").

SOUTH AMERICAN DESERTS. 403

and condensed the vapours with which the trade winds
are charged. Were it not for the accumulations of
snow collected upon the mountain tops, it may be very
safely assumed that a great deal of the western coast
would quickly be converted into uninhabitable desert;
for the plains of Peru and Bolivia, which lie to the
westward of the Andes, are watered almost exclusively
by the streams issuing from their gorges, which are
fed by the melting snows.

By their agency, considerable areas lying between
the western spurs of the mountains, are irrigated ;
here luxuriant forests spring from the deep and fertile
soil, which however are of distinctly malarious char-
acter. This occurrence of highly malarious districts,
extending along the foot-hills of mountain ranges,
seems to be general everywhere in countries where
warm sunshine is prevalent.

Malarial fevers of a serious nature are therefore a
thing which a traveller should always anticipate, and
be on his guard against, when approaching such
localities.

Once the rivers pass out into the plains however,
fertility is mostly restricted to a narrow belt of alluvial
land, bordering upon their banks, while the remainder
of the country but too often presents an exceedingly
barren appearance.

"The districts between the river valleys," says the Encyclopedia
Britannica in its article on Peru, " vary in extent, the largest
being upwards of 70 miles across. On their western margin
steep cliffs generally rise from the sea, above which is the
'Tablazo' or plateau, the whole appearing quite bare of
vegetation." *

* EncycL Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xviii, p. 760 (Article "Peru").

404 THE TABLAZO OF PERU.

Upon these plains rain falls only at rare and un-
certain intervals, and the vegetation visible during
the continuance of dry weather, consists only of
a few herbs, which withstand these long periods
of drought, being kept alive by long tap roots,
which penetrate deeply into the subsoil — the only
thing in the way of tree life which is able to main-
tain existence is the desert Algarrobo (Prosopsis
Horrida>j, a dwarf tree of lowly growth, and two
others, both mere shrubs. * The dry season generally
lasts from November to April. Some districts are
however refreshed by heavy dews, which serve to
promote the growth of a coarse herbage and prevent
the entire desiccation of the land. From June to Sep-
tember also, fogs proceeding from the Pacific, sometimes
accompanied by fine rain, create a short yet beautiful
period of growth and verdure, showing that here (as
in most so-called deserts) it is the want of water
alone which produces sterility. This mist and drizzling
rain is known by the natives as "La Garua," and as
soon as it sets in " a blooming vegetation of wild
flowers for a short time covers the barren hills, " where
in general "the deserts present no sign of a living
creature, or of vegetation." f

Cultivation is as we have said, confined to the neigh-
bourhood of the rivers, whose courses are generally
indicated upon the landscape by lines of fine trees,
palms, willows, poplars, etc., and by means of irrigation
channels beautiful gardens and fields of crops occasionally
appear, like a verdant carpet spread forth upon the
thirsty soil. This dry coast region as it is called in

* Encvd. Brit., gth Edition, p. 670.

f Ibid., Vol. xviii, p. 670 (Article "Peru").

THE SIERRA REGION OF PERU. 405

Peru extends from the shores of the Pacific to the foot-
hills of the Cordilleras and varies in width from 40 and
50 to nearly 100 miles. Here it is succeeded by the
" Sierra" * or Mountain Region, which is about 250 miles
in width beyond that again. Eastwards of the mountains
is "La Montana" of which we have already spoken.
Such are the three divisions into which the Republic
of Peru is longitudinally divided.

Surely it would be difficult to conceive three regions
more essentially different in all their characteristics.
Yet all of them are lying in the same parallels of
latitude, and equally partake of the prolific influences
of the tropical sun. Facts such as these however, are
needed to teach us the paramount nature of the control
which the neighbourhood of a lofty mountain range
exercises over climate.

The country is sharply divided from north to south
by the great Andes chain, as if by an impassable
gulf. To the east of them lies one of the dampest
and rainiest climates in the world, where everything
is dripping with moisture. Here vast navigable rivers
take their rise; and winding their way through what
is probably the greatest and densest tropical forest in
the world, discharge themselves, after a course of several
thousand miles, by the great Amazon system into the
Atlantic ocean.

To the westward of them lies a parched and thirsty
land — a country suffering for the greater part of every
year under almost complete drought. The sparseness
of inhabitants compared with the wide extent of territory
however, prevents the results which would naturally

* Literally in Spanish a "saw," from the likeness born by the jagged
peaks of "La Sierra" to the teeth of a saw.

406 THE HILL STATE OF KASHMIR.

have followed prolonged droughts in a thickly populated
district; as for instance on the plains of Hindustan,
where drought may be regarded as synonymous with
famine.

Indian droughts as we have elsewhere shown are
often followed by the most terrible consequences. We
find, however, on our north western frontier there, an
extensive mountain state which as regards its rainfall
seems in all respects, except one essential particular, to
be the counterpart of the climate of Peru. We refer
to the hill state of Kashmir (or Cashmere as it is often
written) — and the one essential difference between
Kashmir and Peru is that the great Himalayan range
here intercepts the masses of vapour carried by the
winds from distant seas across the burning plains of
India, and causes them to be deposited in the form
of immense masses of snow upon their southern face.
Mighty rivers therefore here take their rise, and
traversing the state and dependencies of Kashmir, roll
down from thence to the sea — the Indus, the Jhelum
and other great rivers for example. Thus while the
Indian plains may be perishing with drought,
unless where they are protected by irrigation canals
drawing their supplies of water from these rivers,
Kashmir may be enjoying the blessings of special
fertility, the watercourses there being constantly main-
tained full, of water during the dry season, by the
melting of the snows. Kashmir therefore is thus
rendered independent of rain — all that is in consequence
required to ensure an abundant harvest, is that the
previous winter should have been hard enough to store
up a sufficiency of snow upon the mountain tops to
furnish the summer water supply.

A LAND INDEPENDENT OF RAIN. 407

Kashmir, we may add, has an irregular and un-
certain rainy season of its own, but the rainfall is
often insignificant and in general does not come at the
right time of year to supply the moisture necessary
to perfect the growth of crops. Thus it happens that
"every great famine that has occurred in K ashmir has
been caused not by the summer droughts, but by a
too mild winter, or by heavy rains in the hot season,
which have flooded the plains and destroyed the crops." *

Nevertheless, owing to the copious irrigation afforded
during the hot weather by the snow streams, the valley
of Kashmir may be described in general terms as " a
green land of woods and pastures." f But the moment
the lofty snowy ridge, which divides Kashmir from
Ladak and other mountain states to the northward
and eastward is traversed; the traveller is met with
the same remarkable contrast that is observed in Peru.
This great divide has not failed to intercept and
condense the atmospheric vapours ; and in consequence
" on crossing the Zoji La pass (13,400 feet over sea-level)
one suddenly enters the great black wastes of Central
Asia, where there is practically no rainfall, and where
even the winter snowfall on the mountain tops, is light, " §
because the snow has fallen almost entirely on the
opposite side of the ridge; the climate of Ladak there-
fore, says the Encyclopedia Britannica,

"is intensely dry, and practically rainless, the little snow
which falls soon disappearing; above a certain height no dew
is deposited, and rapid alternations of temperature are the

* Where Three Empires Meet (Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc.), by
E. F. Knight, 1893, p. 10.
t Ibid., p. 105.
§ Ibid., p. 105.

408 MOUNTAIN TABLE-LANDS OF LADAK.

great feature; the sun's direct rays are hotter than in India,
while the afternoon winds are piercingly cold, and except in
summer it freezes every night." *

Mr. Knight in further describing it says,
" Ladak, like Chinese Thibet is for the most part a desert
of bare craigs and granite dust— a land where there are no
forests or pastures, where in places one can march through
a long summer day and never see so much as a blade of
grass; a cloudless region, always burning, or freezing, under
the clear blue sky : for so thin and devoid of moisture is the
atmosphere that the variations of temperature are extreme,
and rocks exposed to the sun's rays may be too hot to lay
the hand upon, at the same time that it is freezing in the
shade." f

In our section on Climates and Temperatures we
have, as the reader will doubtless remember, not failed
to lay considerable stress upon these rapid alternations
of temperature, which are invariably found to succeed
each other in dry and highly elevated regions: and
nowhere is the truth of this phenomenon more clearly
illustrated than in these mighty elevated table lands,
which form such remarkable features in Thibet, Ladak,
and other Himalayan hill states — which undoubtedly
constitute the highest inhabited regions in the world.

It is here in consequence that the rapid variations
between extreme heat and cold are most sudden and
trying — the power of the sun's rays being actually
more felt than upon the plains of India, while the
instant that they are withdrawn, one is in the arctic
regions. In South America for instance, the tropical
sun may be blazing overhead in fiery glory, heating

* Encycl. Brit., Vol. xiv., p. 197 (Art. "Ladak").
j Where Three Empires Meet (Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc.), by
E. F. Knight, 1893, pp. 105 — 6.

THE SOLAR RAYS AT GREAT ELEVATIONS. 409

the surrounding rocks till they sometimes actually
splinter and crack, as if exposed to the blast of a
furnace, while the scanty vegetation which struggles
for existence at rare intervals among their sheltered
crevices, is that of the glacial region, whose brilliantly
coloured flowers grow and flourish only under the
dropping of water from melting snows. In the high Alps,
which are annually visited by ever increasing numbers
of our British tourists, these flowers are a never failing
source of wonder and delight : and many of them will
doubtless have remarked that the higher they climb the
more brilliant does the Alpine flora become. In the
very highly elevated regions of the Himalayas and the
Andes however, owing to the extreme rarefication of
the atmosphere, botanical and other researches become
a matter of serious difficulty, and indeed of danger—
for, apart from the ordinary risks inseparable from
mountaineering, the stranger is here liable to severe
attacks of a disease known to the Spanish colonists
as "puna." This frequently comes on quite suddenly,
without any previous warning, in the form of violent
sickness of the stomach and vertigo, accompanied by
difficulty of breathing, which obliges the sufferer at
once to come to a standstill, and renders him in the
case of a serious attack incapable of further progress
without assistance, on account of the giddiness.

We have suffered from these attacks in our own
person, and can speak feelingly as to their exceedingly
serious and alarming nature : as a sudden failure of the
heart's action, if exertion is persisted in, is liable to
bring the traveller's wanderings to an abrupt and per-
manent close.

One such case, which had a fatal issue, we heard of

410 PUNA OR MOUNTAIN SICKNESS.

from the Spaniards soon after one of our own journeys
across the Andes; it was that of an English traveller,
who from what we could learn, seems to have been a
retired officer of the Royal Artillery. He became
unconscious and never rallied.

Fortunately however, these severe attacks are com-
paratively rare: and perhaps there may be idiosyn-
crasy in the individual, or other predisposing* causes —
such for instance as organic disease of the heart.

We think it well however, at this point, to say a
word of caution to travellers, tourists, and others who
think of visiting high altitudes, or of indulging in
mountaineering. Recollect, wherever there is a ten-
dency to affections of the heart or the circulatory
system, an ascent to high altitudes is always danger-
ous ; and persons who have reason to suspect that they
may be affected in this way should never attempt it
without first consulting their doctor. Persons affected
with valvular disease, will in fact often drown in rare-
fied air, much as a fish does when taken out of water.
A fatal case of this kind once occurred at St. Moritz
(6089 feet over sea-level) in the Engadine Valley,
when we were there. While walking past the new
English church one day, we observed a grave mound
recently thrown up in the gravel, and on making en-
quiries we learnt from the doctor what had happened.
It was the case of an English gentleman who had
only recently arrived at the place, and who died just in
this way. The funeral had taken place very early, at
daybreak, and so close was the matter kept at his
hotel, for fear of alarming visitors, that the fact of a
death occurring in the house was generally unknown.
For those who are strong, but new to the mountains,

THE MOUNTAIN CITY OF POTOSI. 4 1 I

it is also always prudent to be a little careful at first,
until the system has had time to become accustomed
to the change, and till the " shortness of breath" due
to the rarefied atmosphere, which at first affects new-
comers at considerable altitudes, even on ascending
a small thing like a flight of steps, has gone off.

When making steep ascents, stop and rest often, and
admire the view. * Many a man has permanently injured
his heart by overtaxing his strength while ascending
mountains, and endeavouring to keep up with practised
mountaineers before being in a condition to do so.

The effect upon the human system of great increases
of altitude is often remarkable. There are places, for
instance such as Potosi in Bolivia, a great silver mining
centre, and one of the highest inhabited localities in
the world situated at an altitude of about 13,600 feet
over sea level, where, it is said, strangers are seldom
able to reside with safety for any great length of time,
and cats it is asserted always die if taken there. It
is also a curious fact that the native residents are stated,
on what seems to be good authority, to be endowed
by Nature with a larger chest measurement than the
people of the lowlands; they are in consequence able
to take into the lungs a larger volume of air at each
inspiration, than other people, and thus the highly
attenuated atmosphere does not seem to affect them
injuriously ; but in the case of people not so constituted,
the work thrown upon the heart and lungs is consider-
ably augmented, beyond what is natural — it follows
therefore, that this cannot go on for long, without the
risk of grave injury to these organs.

* See some sensible observations on this head made in Deer-stalking,
by Augustus Grimble, 1 886, p. 23.

412 HILL SANITARIUMS.

On the other hand, under ordinary circumstances,
and up to a certain point, the health-giving and bracing
effects of mountain air are so well known that it would
be needless to do more than record it as a matter of
ascertained fact. In the tropics for instance, the value
of a move to the hills is now admitted to have almost
entirely changed the conditions of European life in
these countries. In former days before these things
were generally recognised, Europeans sent out to the
East and West Indies used to die in a way that it
is frightful to think of; whereas now-a-days these high
rates of mortality are entirely unknown ; mainly because
troops etc., are no longer kept in pestilential quarters
on the edge of the sea, and because sick cases are
at once sent to the hills — but also no doubt partly
through the cheapening of transit and the more general
use of quinine, and last but perhaps not least, owing to the
adoption of a more sensible system of clothing, the
substitution of woollen for linen and cotton garments,
together with the universal use of sun helmets. Sudden
ascents from the plains in tropical countries to considerable
elevations are however not advisable in cases of malarial
diseases, as the tendency of the sudden change of climate
is to bring out any germs of malanal fever that may
be lurking in the system, and so precipitate an attack.
Doctor S. O. Bishop of Darjeelin g for instance, has written
strongly upon the necessity of caution on the part of
visitors from the Indian plains, when ascending to this
station, a well-known sanitarium situated in British
Sikkim, just about 7000 feet above sea level, and says,

"I have often noticed after arrival in a hill station, from
the plains, that visitors, more especially those who come on
account of their health, suffer from various indispositions.

DARJEELING. 413

From my own experience (he goes on to say) I am confident
if more care were taken, and more prudence exercised, a
good deal of sickness could be avoided." *

There is a military convalescent depot at Jelapahar,
which adjoins Darjeeling; at the still higher level of
about 7400 feet, within view of it, is the old and ex-
tensive military cantonment of Mount Senchal, now
abandoned and in ruins; it lay at an elevation of 8610
feet over sea level, on the very crest of the ridge.

There is a curious story in connection with the
abandonment of this latter place, whose ruins show that
very great expenditure must have been incurred in its
construction. Line after line of ruined barracks, and
other buildings, may still be traced, which are now
habitations only for the raven, the owl, and the jackal ;
even the mere work of levelling the parade ground
alone must have been a process of very great labour and
cost, scooped as it is out of the rocky crest of the ridge.

In connection with what perhaps might be termed
our " croakings " about the necessity of caution in the
use of hill stations, as tropical sanitaria, the story of
Mount Senchal is well worth recording here. The
place is about six miles by road from Darjeeling, and
is passed on the way to Tiger Hill, a point over 9500
feet above sea level, usually visited by all who come
to Darjeeling on account of the magnificent view of
the mountains to be had there, and from whence a
good view of Mount Everest, at present reputed to be
the highest mountain in the world (29,002 feet) is
obtained.

Senchal was selected for the site of the military

* Medicals Hints for the Hills, by Dr. S. O. Bishop, Darjeeling, 1888.
Introductory Chapter, p. I.

414 MOUNT SENCHAL.

cantonment, soon after the first occupation of British
vSikkim in 1835, by the Indian Government during the
governorship of Lord William Bentinck, who acquired
it by cession from the Rajah, as a European Sanitarium,
in return for an annual grant in money; and from a
military point of view, there can be no doubt that a
British force occupying Senchal held an exceedingly
strong position, provided that Tiger Hill was duly held
by a small fort. Herein, we find the explanation of many
of the follies (or what are now reputed as such) committed
in former times by the selection of what afterwards proved
unsuitable localities from a sanitary point of view, on
account of their strategical advantages, or their capacity
for defence by a small force against superior numbers.
Unhappily the military records of almost every country
teem with similar cases, where the advantages of a
position in its military and medical aspects appear to
be in direct opposition to each other.

At Senchal, however, these conflicting interests were
probably not apparent in the then state of sanitary science,
for nothing at first sight could appear finer than its
situation. It is impossible to conceive anything grander
than the panorama of the great Himalayan snowy range,
seen from these heights, from whence the mighty Kin-
chinjunga (28,156 feet) and many other peaks of 20,000
feet each, and upwards, are visible towering to the sky
both on the northern and the western horizon ; indeed
a careful examination with a good glass shows more
than one peak far to the N.W., and probably in the
territory of Nepaul, whose altitude seems (at that great
distance) to be quite as great as that of Kinchinjunga.
Then facing round the other way towards the south-
ward, the spectator gazes down into an abyss of

A GREAT HIMALAYAN PANORAMA. 415

enormous depth — the ravine is here said to be in fact
nearly 7000 feet deep * — through which the " Great
Ranjit " and " Teesta " rivers make their way down
to the Indian plains; when it is still weather, and the
set of the wind is favourable, the traveller's ear can at
times detect from many points among these hills the
dull roar of the torrent dashing along its rocky bed.
Often very impressive indeed is the sound of its muffled
thunder, heard echoing among these mighty solitudes.
As the traveller rides along the mountain paths places
are also frequently come upon, where the eye (provided
the view is not interrupted by mist) can travel down
to apparently fathomless depths, and see the torrent
white with foam and just distinguishable in the gloom
threading the tropical forest with a silver line. Looking
down from Senchal toward the south, the view extends
along the valley to a vast distance in the direction
of the Indian plains, until at length the vista loses
itself in the mist. It is by this valley that the present
narrow gauge railway ascends to Darjeeling from
Silliguri, a station situated near the outer edge of
the Terai, fifty-one miles from Darjeeling.

The position of Senchal was therefore in every way
most commanding and beautiful; a well-constructed
road gave easy access to the cantonment, and led
through what was then a magnificent forest of oak
magnolia, and rhododendron, and though the heavy
timber has since been cut, the whole place still abounds
with rare and beautiful plants of many descriptions.
When these were in flower in the months of April
and May, Sir Joseph Hooker in his Himalayan Jour-

* Himalayan Journals, by Sir Joseph D. Hooker, edition of 1854,
Vol. i., p. 122.

41 6 HIMALAYAN FOREST FLORA.

nals, assures us that " the vegetation is, in some
respects, not to be surpassed by anything in the
tropics." * The white-flowered magnolia (Magnolia
Excelsis [Wall.]) still forms a predominant tree at 7000
and 8000 feet, and in 1848, at the time Sir J. Hooker
wrote, he states u it blossomed so profusely that the
forests of Senchal appeared as if sprinkled with snow. " f
Above that again comes the range of the purple-
flowered variety (M. Campellii] which seldom descends
below 8000 feet. Then among the rhododendrons a
leading variety here is R. Argenteum which " grows
a great tree 40 feet high, with magnificent leaves
12 to 15 inches long, deep green, and silvery below." §
Senchal also possessed the great advantage of an
abundant supply of pure water of such excellent quality
that pipes have of late years been laid to convey it
to Darjeeling, for the use of that sanitarium, and the
town at present draws its water supply from these
splendid springs at Senchal. All these circumstances
of course seemed to tell in its favour.

The causes however which eventually compelled
the abandonment of Senchal, was its exposed
position on the very crest of the ridge at the head of
the valley leading up from the plains. This was a
fatal error: because it ignored the fact, the truth of
which has since been so generally recognised, that
wherever mountains rise out of tropical plains, malarial
fever of severe type invariably haunts the foothills and
valleys at the base of such chains, and is carried up
by the winds to very great heights. Now the pre-

* Himalayan Journals, by Sir Joseph D. Hooker, 1848, Edit,
published 1854, Vol. i., pp. 125 — 6.
f Ibid.
§ Ibid., p. 126.

SENCHAL, THE ABANDONED CANTONMENT. 417

vailing direction of the winds in the case we are at
present considering, is from the southwards, and comes
directly up from the Terai towards the mountains.

As we shall revert again to the question of the
Terai district, we shall at present content ourselves
with merely mentioning' the well-known fact of the
highly malarious nature of its climate — so much so
that it is stated on high authority that " it is almost
inevitable death for a European to sleep there any
time between the end of April and November," *
and although great improvements have been effected
of late years in the portion of the Terai lying between
Silliguri f and Darjeeling, it must be remembered
that this was not till long after the abandonment of
Senchal.

Unfortunately the deadly nature of the vapours of
the Terai belt at this point were only too clearly
proved, in 1861, by a tragical event which cost the
life of a most estimable lady, and no less a person-
age than the wife of Charles John, Earl Canning, first
Viceroy of India ; who, after crushing out the last
embers of the Mutiny, was returning to Calcutta, after
a triumphal progress through the North West Pro-
vinces early in November in that year. Lady Canning,
who had been staying at Darjeeling, left that
station with the intention of meeting her husband upon
his arrival, and on her way down stopped one night
in the neighbourhood of the Terai. This was of course
before the construction of the railway — and during a

* The Cyclopaedia of India, by Surgeon-General Edwd. Balfour, 3rd
Edition, 1885, Vol. iii., p. 848.

y Silliguri is the junction of the metre gauge system with the 24 in.
narrow gauge railway to Darjeeling.

VOL. II. 27

418 DIED OF JUNGLE FEVER.

season when the country had been rendered more than
usually unhealthy by excessive rains, which had ac-
companied the S.W. monsoon in 1861. Her Ladyship
was in consequence attacked by jungle fever, and on
reaching Calcutta about November 10, was found to
be seriously ill. The disease rapidly assumed an alarm-
ing aspect, and she sank, and expired early on the
morning of November 18. * The funeral took place
at Barrackpur, the country residence of the Governors-
General, 14 miles from Calcutta, on the banks of the
Hooghli, at a lovely bend of the river, which was one
of her favourite haunts. The traveller visiting St.
Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, will there find a magnificent
monument erected to her memory. The epitaph upon
it, written by Lord Canning, begins, " Honours and
praises written on a tomb, are at best but a vain glory. " f

Reverting however to the subject of the position
of Senchal from a sanitary point of view. The results
of all modern observations upon the subject of malarial
disease all tend to show that there is no practical
limit where it is possible to count on ascending beyond
its reach upon mountains, as ravines seem to act as
conduit pipes for conveying the poison along their
courses into the higher regions. Malarial fever in its
severest forms is therefore constantly found to attack
unwary travellers and others, encamping in ravines.
It is a matter of ascertained fact that there is no surer
way of contracting severe attacks of this disease than
camping or erecting houses in such situations.

This tendency of fever to attack persons among

* See The Rulers of India Series, " Earl Canning, " by Sir H. S.
Cunningham, 1891, page 211.

f A copy from the Author's Notes taken on the spot.

RAVINES AND JUNGLE FEVER. 419

mountains was well illustrated during the late Emm
Pasha Relief Expedition in Central Africa, for there was
nowhere that the expedition suffered more severely
than in the lofty mountain region of " Ankori," almost
every member of the caravan consisting of 1000 people
having suffered from fever during their progress through
this district; and Dr. Parkes, their medical officer,
specially states that this occurred at high altitudes as
well as low. " I may mention (he says) that we suffered
from fever at all altitudes, up to 10,000 feet above sea
level." * Dr. Parkes however thinks that many of these
cases were caused by the keen air, and draughts, met
with among the mountains, sudden chills being in that
climate almost always followed by an attack of fever. It is
probable that such causes may also have had considerable
effect, and that they account in great measure for the
well-known fact that persons coming from the plains
often find an ascent to considerable altitudes precipitates
an attack of fever.

All these circumstances however combine to show
that from a sanitary point of view, the occupation of
Senchal, at the head of an immense ravine, was most
unfortunately chosen. In the Himalayas the early
mornings are often beautifully clear, but as the sun
gathers strength during the day, dense masses of
vapour frequently rise from the valleys, and are
carried up the ravines by the wind. From Darjeeling
and other places, these mighty channels, worn by
water out of mountain sides during the lapse of
ages, are often to be seen filled with white smoke-

* Personal Experiences in Equatorial Africa as Medical Officer of^
the E.P.R.E., by Thos. H. Parkes, Surgeon A.M.S., pp. 477— 479
(pub. 1891.)

420 HIMALAYAN MIASMITIC FOGS.

like masses of vapour, almost as if it was water, while
the atmosphere may remain perfectly clear above.
When the fog therefore reaches the head of the ravine
it is still propelled, and flows over the crest of the
dividing ridge, and then floats like a belt of cloud
along the higher slopes of the hills.

Senchal was therefore, owing to its position already
described, almost constantly enveloped in these fogs;
the scud of the mist, being thus carried across the
ridge at that point, was sure to be charged, even at
that elevation, with the miasmic vapours of the Terai
below, hence as might be expected a great deal of
sickness always prevailed there, such as rheumatism,
dysentery, and febrile disease of severe type, and
when the sun was thus veiled by mist, the cold was
always very severely felt. A portion of H.M.'s 8oth
Regiment were in 1 848 severe sufferers in this respect.
It was also found that the combined effects of cold,
the numerous cases of sickness, and the frequent
prevalence of these fogs, produced a deep feeling of
depression among the men who were quartered there ;
many of whom came up insufficiently protected with
the necessary warm clothing, after a long residence on
the hot plains of India. It is understood that there
were several cases of suicide, and that things in fact
became so bad, that had the command been retained
there it came to this : that there would soon have been
no men left to command. The place was therefore
wisely abandoned, but not until after considerable losses
had been incurred.

The change to the present position at Darjeeling,
and Jelapahar, has proved in every way an extremely
fortunate one, for from their position on the reverse

MOUNT EVEREST: FROM TIGER HILL. 421

slope of the dividing ridge, the fogs mostly pass up
the valleys, or else overhead along the higher slopes
of the mountains, in " the cloud belt " which we have
already described. Darjeeling especially is comparatively
free from these fogs. They however unfortunately often
shut out the grand panorama of the snowy range from
the sight of the casual visitor, as many days may
sometimes elapse without a good view of it being
obtained — the hot season on the plains, when Dar-
jeeling is fullest, being unfortunately the season of
rains and mist in the mountains.

The early morning at sunrise, before the mists rise,
affords the best chance of getting a good panorama;
that hour is therefore generally chosen by parties
ascending to view Mount Everest, 29,002 feet and the
highest mountain in the world, from Tiger Hill above
Senchal. This gigantic peak is however only visible
at a great distance (quite 120 miles) to the eastward,
in the territory of Nepaul, and is in consequence easily
shut out by mist. Visitors therefore ought to be early,
and so time their departure from Darjeeling as to reach
Tiger Hill as nearly as possible at or before the rising
of the sun, when a grand panoramic prospect is visible
on every side, probably unequalled, and certainly not
surpassed by anything of the kind to be seen on earth.
There are some things that make a lasting impression
upon the memory; and we think we can say without
fear of being taxed with exaggeration, that the view
from Tiger Hill, at such times, is certainly one of these.

Its vast and spacious grandeur, extending over an
almost boundless field of vision, and embracing quite
a number of peaks, standing without rivals at the head
of the list of the greatest altitudes existing upon earth

422 A GREAT MOUNTAIN PANORAMA.

—are all to be seen, standing out against an azure
sky on clear mornings just at dawn, with that
infinite coldness and distinctness of outline, peculiar to
objects modelled in polished steel: whilst the splendid
effects of sunrise enhance to the utmost the grandeur
and beauty of the scene; its early rays tinting the
masses of snow with glowing hues of pink and carmine.
Thus every circumstance combines to form a prospect
whose glories can never be effaced from the mind,
either by time or distance or the strain and turmoil of
a busy life.

The torrents, whose dull and ceaseless roar is often
the only sound which breaks the silence amid the higher
altitudes of great mountain ranges, form natural features
in the landscape rarely or never found wanting in such
localities. If a great mountain upreared its lofty crest
alone in its glory in the midst of the dryest desert
upon earth, it may be accepted as a matter of practical
certainly that vapour would still be condensed upon
its summit which would produce such torrents as are
found to seam the sides of all high places. A rainless
district may be ever so extensive, and yet the vapour-
laden winds are still for ever bearing aloft across the
arid waste those mighty water floods, which in due
season are destined to descend upon earth and become
the prolific sources of great rivers. There is nc occasion
to go elsewhere to seek for illustrations of this fact ; for
from Darjeeling, and all along the great northern plains
of India, whose boundary is formed by the Himalayan
range, we are everywhere surrounded by a vast region
where this phenomenon may be seen in continual
operation.

The plains themselves may be, and unfortunately

ATMOSPHERIC VAPOUR AND RAINS. 423

frequently are, perishing for want of a drop of rain ;
crops may fail ; the wind may sweep away the desiccated
grass in the form of dry dust from the pasture lands ;
and the ground may be as dry and as hard as if paved
with granite flagging; while famine affecting millions
of (the helpless inhabitants taxes the resources of the
British government to the utmost, so that they are
sometimes almost at their wits' end to devise methods
for dealing with it (and here it may not be an un-
warrantable digression to point out that the British
is the only government that has ever attempted to really
deal with such a crisis, and which has stood between
the native population and death, on such occasions:
for the native Princes were never able to do anything
worth speaking of to assist them; while the Rajahs
talked the people died: the people of India should
never forget that).

Returning however to the point we were discussing,
we desire to point out that notwithstanding all these
troubles affecting the Indian plains country, the needful
supplies of water are all the while ceaselessly passing
across them in the zenith, to be deposited in the form
of hail and snow upon the crests of the great Hima-
layan chain —upon whose foot-hills the rank luxuriance
of its vegetation is ever flourishing, owing to the
superabundant supply of this life-giving element.*
We fear there are as yet no data to enable us to
assert the fact in positive terms, but it seems to us to
follow, as a matter of scientific fact, that the southern
slopes of those mountains should then be (during the
prevalence of these droughts) more heavily laden with

* See some observations on these vapour-laden winds, in the
'•'•Himalayan Journals" of Sir J. D. Hooker, 1854., Vol. i., pp. 106 — 7.

424 THE INDIAN MONSOONS.

snow than at ordinary times— because we know that
under the torrid rays of a vertical sun the waters of
the Indian Ocean must always be evaporating, and
that the set of the prevailing winds for by far the
greater part of the year is towards the northward
—consequently, though not a drop of rain may fall
upon the Indian plains, the water which should in the
ordinary course of events have been deposited there
by the S.W. Monsoon (which generally lasts from
April to October in Hindustan), must be carried else-
where before it is finally condensed. Now we know,
as a matter of ascertained fact, that the snow line
upon the southern slopes of the Himalayas comes
down immensely lower than it does upon their northern
face, indeed the differences of levels have sometimes been
estimated at as much as 4000 feet; consequently, the
vastly greater part of the atmospheric vapour is condensed
before it crosses that great divide: consequently it
would seem to follow that when the monsoonal rains
fail upon the plains, they should be mostly deposited
in that locality, plus the ordinary amount of rainfall
usually descending there. The normal amount of
rainfall in many places is however always very great;
the average rainfall at Darjeeling for instance, amounts
to 119.28 inches per annum.*

It may be however that the currents of water-laden
air may be occasionally deflected into adjoining regions
--or it may possibly be that at certain times they
are carried over the crest of the Himalayas, before
their vapour condenses; in that case of course, we
should expect to find very exceptionally heavy snow
falls on the great table lands of Thibet, or on the

* Encyd, Brit, gth Edition, Vol. xii, p. 739.

HIMALAYAN SNOWS. 425

further ridges of this great mountain chain, which lie
still further to the north.

On these matters however we fear, as we have said,
that sufficient data do not exist to enable any positive
opinion to be formed. We therefore venture to tender
our own views upon them as a hypothesis only.

But whatever may be the operation of the law of
Nature in these respects, it is certain that upon the
Himalayas, as well as on all other great mountain
ranges, vast quantities of water are condensed. In
the higher regions above — 16,000 or 18,000 feet over
sea level — it is probable that nearly the whole of
this is deposited as snow. Here therefore, we have a
constant and never failing supply of stored up water
for the torrents, which the sun's action causes to pour
down their sides. The description of the formation of
rivers by these means, more properly belongs to our
next section, " The Region of the Great River Basins, "
so that we shall confine our remarks at present to
the consideration of their sources, as torrents only,
with regard to the question of the " denudation " of
mountains by their action.

Taken in its largest sense, the phenomenon of
denudation involves such mighty issues, as regards
the future of our earth, and raises such a complex
array of scientific questions, that the human mind
might well hesitate in approaching so great a subject ;
we purpose however, at present, merely to venture
upon a short survey of its action upon mountains.

If a child should ask us, What age are the hills?
even the most uneducated person would say — They
are old: very old. If the enquiry was pushed a step
further, by the rejoinder of, How do you know? we

426 DENUDATION.

have but to point to the work done by these torrents,
to prove that it must have taken ages to perform it,
how many ages it is unfortunately beyond our powers
to determine. A little observation will teach us that
rapidly running water can cut very quickly through a
soft, or friable medium, as the injuries done to mountain
roads by sudden storms sufficiently prove; at these
times the whole surfaces of such roads are sometimes
carried away in a few hours for considerable distances,
so that their course is more or less completely effaced.
But when it comes to the question of wearing channels
through the solid rock, it must be obvious that it
wears a very different aspect — and must have occupied
a long period of time. Now near Iskardoh in Little
Thibet, not far from the sources of the Indus, "is the
wonderful gorge by which the river bursts through
the western ranges of the Himalayas, said to \>z fourteen
thousand feet deep" (or almost i-J miles in vertical depth).*
How long did it take to cut that?

The River Indus rises approximately in Lat. 320 N.,
and Long. 810 E., in a lofty mountainous region,
seldom visited by Europeans, and of which very little
is known ; exact data as to its head waters are there-
fore not available. Enough however is known to show
that the great river has eaten its way literally for hun-
dreds of miles through rock-bound gorges whose beetling
cliffs form a strategic line upon the N.W. frontier
of our Indian Empire of enormous strength and import-
ance from a military point ot view, f The crossing of
the Upper Indus there is only fairly practicable for

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition. Vol. x., p. 68. (Article "The River Indus.")
"j~ See letter of General Sir John Adye in The Times of August
*7» J893- (He says it is "almost impregnable").

THE SOURCES OF THE INDUS. 427

troops at a few points of its course (and probably only
during the cold season) from Attock to Sakka. Accord-
ing to General Lord Chelmsford this is " the only
portion of the river frontier which is in any danger."*
The river races with the speed of a mill sluice during
floods, and all along its northern section these floods
are liable to come down suddenly without warning of
any kind, and sweep away everything in their course.
At Attock for instance, where the main road to Peshawar
crossed the river before the present railway bridge
was constructed, f there used to be a bridge of boats,
in accordance with the usual practice in India, where
wide and rapid rivers liable to sudden floods have to
be crossed, but this bridge generally had to be withdrawn
in summer, when the melting of the snows on the
mountains endangered it,§ and the Indus has been
known to rise at this point quite 90 feet in a single
day.** We shall however revert to this subject again
in greater detail in our next section, on " The Great
River Basins." The danger to which an army would
be exposed in leaving such a river unbridged in their
rear must be obvious ; upon its upper waters however
near where the Indus enters the Punjab (in Lat. 34°
25' N., Long. 72° 51' E.) the river is fordable in many
places, during the cold weather ; but a few hours may
convert the ford into a raging torrent. Thus Ranjit

* See report of an interview by a commissioner of the Pall Mall
Gazette with Lord Chelmsford in that paper of the date of August
24th, 1893.

t Opened for traffic in May 1883 (a subway carries the road
beneath the railway line) ; see The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by
W. W. Hunter, Vol. vii., p. 15.

§ Encycl. Brit., gth Edition., Vol. iii., p. 62.

** See The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by W. W. Hunter, Vol.
vii., p. 15.

428 FORCE OF MOUNTAIN TORRENTS.

Singh is said to have lost a force of cavalry, variously
estimated "at from 1200 to 7000 horsemen"* — while
crossing" this river, in consequence of one of these
sudden freshets. For remarkable instances of sudden
floods of this kind, from which even streams flowing
through plains countries are by no means exempt, we
beg to refer the readers to our section on Climates and
Temperatures, where we trust many interesting details
on the subject of sudden floods, without apparent cause,
will be found enumerated.

To these sudden floods, mountain torrents are of
course exceedingly liable; a very short interval of
heavy rain being sufficient to render what was previously
a dry stream bed, quite impassable ; a very moderate
depth of water, dashing rapidly down a hill side, being
quite enough to carry off both men and horses. When
the weight of the impact of water exceeds that of the
man, of course he most certainly will be carried off.
Now, the weight of each gallon of water is eight
pounds, and the momentum acquired during its flow
down a steep slope will cause it to strike any fixed
object crossing its current with at least an equal and
probably a much greater force — that being so, it no
longer seems wonderful when we find immense rocks
in the gorges of great mountains, which have evidently
been carried down by the current. In the Himalayas,
the Andes, and other lofty chains, such instances are
common. Most persons wTho have had even a very
moderate experience of mountains will also doubtless
be able to recall many instances of the wonderful
rapidity with which torrents swell, and how every little

* See The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by W. W. Hunter, Vol.
vii., p. ii. (N.B. — This event occurred about the year 1823.)

SUNSHINE AND SNOW STREAMS. 429

rivulet turns into a regular stream, at short notice.
This was well expressed by Sheikh Saadi, as recorded
by Major Edwardes, where he said,

" You may stop the source of a river with a bodkin, but
let it run on, and it will carry away an elephant and his
load." *

Torrents proceeding from highly elevated sources,
amidst heights heavily laden with eternal snows, possess
peculiar features in that they are to a great extent
independent of rains; the time when they are highest
in point of fact, generally being in the hot season.

Being fed by the melting snows, these streams are
generally low at night, when an intense cold, and hard
frost, seals up the fountains of their supply ; many of
the smaller rivulets may even entirely cease to run:
but no sooner has the day broken than the sun's rays
again begin to melt the snow, and the stronger and
clearer it shines the heavier becomes the flood which
sweeps down from every ravine. On account of the
rarefication and intense dryness of the air, the power
of the sun may actually be greater than it is on the
plains, f

Now as almost the whole of the water condensed
from the clouds during the remainder of the year is
at these altitudes stored up upon the mountain tops
in the form of snow, it will be apparent that as long
as these hot suns continue to shine, heavy floods are
certain to roll down to the plains country from the
snowy range. It is this that makes the freshets on
the Indus, the Jhelum, the Sutlej, and other rivers,

* A Year in the Punjab, by Major Herbert B. Edwardes, 1851. Vol.
i., p. 203.

t Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xiv., p. 197. (Article "Ladak. ")

430 THE SACREDNESS OF HIGH PLACES.

so serious, increased as they are almost sure to be by
the monsoonal rains. The eastern rivers of India, in
Bengal, and elsewhere, are of course affected in the same
way, and during the height of the monsoonal rains
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra sometimes resemble
arms of the sea.

In many places among great mountains the ceaseless
thunder of these mighty torrents, may be heard echo-
ing among the hills with a volume of sound which
fills the mind of the listeners with awe and wonder,
and though their deep and sullen roar may be some-
what diminished by night, it often remains so loud as
to banish sleep from the eyes of those unused to it—
to others again it sounds Jike the voice of precious
music to the ear, and seems to be continually telling
of the greatness and sublimity of Nature, which is
nowhere more apparent than on the ocean or among
great mountains.

In the East, high mountains are almost universally
regarded as sacred places. In India this is specially
so among persons of the Hindu religion, who hold
the sources of the sacred river Ganges, where it rises
amid the Himalayan snows, in the deepest reverence.
The true source of this river is deemed by them to
be a point near Gangotri (situated in about Lat. 30°
55' N., Long. 70° 56' E.) * 10,300 feet above the level
of the sea, where it issues from an ice cave, at the
foot of a Himalayan glacier, f One of the best de-
scriptions of this spot is to be found in the sporting
tour of Colonel Markham, 32nd Regiment, made through
this district about 1853, who says,

* Index Geographicus of Lat. and Long, compiled for Keith Johnston's
Royal Atlas, 1864.

f See Encycl. Brit., Vol. x., p. 68. (Art. " Ganges. ")

THE GLACIER OF GANGES. 431

" Never can I forget my first impressions when I beheld it
in all its savage grandeur. The glacier thickly studded with
enormous rocks is about a mile in width, and extends many
miles towards an immense mountain covered with perpetual
snow, 21,000 feet high. The chasm through which the sacred
river rushes forth, is named 'The Cow's Mouth' and is held
in the deepest reverence by all Hindoos, and the regions of
eternal frost in its vicinity are the scenes of many of their
most sacred mysteries. The Ganges enters the world no puny
stream, but bursts forth a river 30 or 40 yards in breadth,
of great depth, and very rapid. * Extensive as my travels
have been through these beautiful mountains, and amidst all
the splendid scenery I have looked on, I can recall none
so magnificent as the glacier of the Ganges." f

There can be no doubt that in these matters the
imagination is influenced by the grandeur of Nature;
a feeling of awe insensibly takes possession of the
mind, and native superstition rarely fails to connect
such scenes with the presence of the Divinity ; thence
it becomes but another step to associate them with
events forming the basis of their various creeds.

The same train of thought causes eminences from
whence extensive and striking views are obtainable
to be selected for the sites of temples, etc. Speaking
on this subject Sir Richard Temple says,

" There is hardly throughout the whole continent (of Hin-
dustan) a fine or effective position, or commanding point of
prospect, which they (the Buddhists) have failed to occupy
with some structure." §

These positions most of them occupy eminences among

* N.B. — This was probably during the hot season, when the river
was in flood there.

t Snorting in the Himalayas, and Travel and Ad-venttires in Chinese
Tartary, Ladak, Thibet, Cashmere, etc., by Fredk. Markham, Colonel
32nd Regt. 1854, p. 58.

§ India in 1880, by Sir Richd. Temple, 2nd Edition, 1881, p. 26.

43 2 INDIAN ROCK TEMPLES.

hills and mountains, but others are upon the banks of
great rivers, and especially at the confluence of such
streams: the confluence of the Jumna and the Ganges,
for instance, at Allahabad, is a good example of these
last, where the sands at certain festivals may be seen
covered at this point by thousands of these people,
bathing in, and drinking the sacred waters; but the
temple here is confined to a small one within the
fort.

The wonderful rock temples of India however, con-
stitute the most striking monuments of this kind. Many
of these cave temples belong to Buddhism, and accord-
ing to Sir R. Temple the total number of them thus
far discovered, amounts to nearly 1000; * of these
some are known to be effaced, whilst others exist in
a defaced state, but many having been carved in the
hardest rock, are imperishable.

" The fondness for excavating their sacred places out of the
mountain sides (continues Sir R. Temple) was a characteristic of
the early races of India." — " Often the traveller at the entrance,
turning round, beholds the spreading landscape, the very
prospect which the Buddhists of old commanded, as they
contemplated the wealth and civilization of the plains and
valleys at their feet, whence the support of their national
institutions was derived." f

In Egypt a splendid example of one of these rock-
hewn temples is to be seen in the Nubian desert at
Abu Simbel on the banks of the Nile, between the
first and second cataracts. The fondness of the ancient
Egyptians for the construction of rock-hewn tombs, is
also well known. Many of them date from periods of

* India in 1880, by Sir Richd. Temple, 2nd Edition, 1881, pp. 26
and 27.

-j- Ibid., pp. 26 and 27.

ABU SIMBEL. 433

enormous antiquity, as regards the historical records of
the human family. Many of these again are very
extensive affairs, and represent a vast expenditure of
human labour on what were probably partly tombs,
and partly places of religious worship. With a good
glass, the gaping entrances to literally thousands of
such places may be seen in the cliffs and mountains,
as the traveller ascends the Nile, every available spot
at certain points being absolutely honeycombed with
them.

Some of the carvings cut in the solid rock which
forms the walls of these places, are wonderful examples
of human skill and artistic talent. The four colossal
sitting figures of Ramses the Great, which are hewn
out of the cliff at the entrance to the Egyptian temple
of Abu Simbel, are conspicuous instances of this, and
from the doorway, but more especially from the heights
above, magnificent panoramas of the barren hills and
pathless expanse of tawny red sands peculiar to the
Nubian desert, are visible; whose colourings, under the
ruddy glow of sunset or sunrise, form spectacles of
never-to-be-forgotten splendour. Most impressive at
all times is its stern and spacious grandeur ; its change-
less aspect of infinite desolation, and deathlike re-
pose, in which the only indications of life or movement
are the waters of the mighty river, silently flowing at
the base of the cliff beneath: otherwise there remains
not a single trace of human habitation or existence,
except the presence of the Nile boat that has borne the
traveller to the spot, and waits to carry him off again.*

* It is usual for the tourist steamboats to pass the night at Abu
Simbel, in order to enable passengers to witness both sunset and sunrise,
and to see the temple by moonlight.

VOL. II. 28

434 COLOSSAL FIGURES OF BUDDHA.

Some of the Indian temples in like manner furnish
magnificent specimens of these great rock carvings. In
the more modern Buddhist cave temples, for instance,
a very general adjunct is a more or less colossal
figure of Buddha, either in a sitting or recumbent
posture. The expression stamped upon the stony
lineaments of the faces of not a few of these figures
are often singularly beautiful, exhibiting artistic skill
of a very high order: one hand is generally raised,
as if the subject was in the act of addressing the
beholder.

"The forefinger (says Sir R. Temple) solemnly points to
warn men to look from mortality to immortality: from the
seen things of time to the unseen things of eternity; and
the hand holding a pinch of dust indicates the insignificance
of all human greatness." :

The historical records of the Bible also show that
this fondness for worshipping in high places existed
in very remote times, all over Bible lands: where the
earliest inhabitants of which history has furnished any
record were probably sun-worshippers, and so were
wont to assemble at such points of vantage to witness
the first appearance of the great luminary of the day,
as it rose upon the eastern horizon. In the Psalms,
for instance, we find this sentiment of the sacredness
of high places finely expressed in the words,

" I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence
cometh my help." f

Sacrificial altars are also constantly mentioned as hav-
ing been erected in such situations; thus Abraham, when

* India in 1880, By Sir Richd. Temple, late governor of Bombay
and Lieut.-Governor of Bengal, 2nd Kdition, 1881, p. 28.
j Psalm cxxi — I.

THE MOUNTAINS OF MOAB. 435

about to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering",
ascended one of the mountains of the land of Moriah. *

So again, when Balak, king of Moab, was desirous that
Balaam should come with him to curse his enemies,
he carried him up to the top of one of the high moun-
tains to do so, from whence he could see the Israelitish
army then encamped upon the plain of Moab. But as
we know from the narrative, thoroughly Oriental in
all its developments, which probably forms one of the
most dramatic passages found in Scripture, Balaam,
instead of cursing, blessed them altogether, f Those
of our readers who have been travellers in Palestine
will doubtless remember the striking panorama of the
desert, and almost waterless hills, forming the range
of the Mountains of Moab, seen to the eastward from
the plain of Jericho and the shores of the Dead Sea,
where these incidents were enacted, which afford tour-
ists so fine an example of desert scenery: noble in
its expansive and desolate grandeur.

But these striking, yet minor instances of mountain
scenery, would fade into comparative insignificance, if
placed where it would be possible to compare them
with some of the loftier ranges, as for example the
South American Andes, which also afford frequent
examples of this same sort of perfect sterility and
absence of animal or vegetable life. Both sorts of
scenery in fact — panoramas of mighty wastes of barren
rock and sand, or of umbrageous forest and grassy
plains, when seen on great mountain ranges, have
their own special features of sublimity; and it is dif-
ficult to say which is most impressive. We refer at

* See Genesis xxii — 2.

f See Numbers, Chapters xxiii and xxiv.

436 LOOKING DOWN FROM GREAT ALTITUDES.

present to prospects of great mountains seen in the
distance from the plain below. As pictures it may
be that some of these may actually be the finest of
all ; and as such they are almost always selected by artists,
in preference to those looking downwards, from above.
But to our mind there is nothing that comes up to
the spacious grandeur of the immense, almost illimit-
able areas of terrestrial expanse that can be witnessed,
under favourable conditions, from the great altitudes.
The sublimity of such prospects can hardly fail to
impress even the most casual observer.

Nor is the feeling of awe with which, even un-
consciously to ourselves, we look down from one of
these altitudes upon the splendid panorama of the
world unfolded beneath, by any means an unnatural
one; on the contrary, nowhere does the greatness
of the Creator appear more strikingly apparent
nor the littleness of man in comparison so complete.
There can be no doubt that it was this feeling
which prompted the Buddhists to select for their
temples these commanding positions of which we
have spoken ; from whence, according to the figurative
metaphor used more than once in Scripture, " all the
kingdoms of the earth, and the glory of them " are
visible.

Many such positions, commanding an apparently
boundless prospect, may be found upon the slopes of
the Himalayas, the Andes, and even upon mariy smaller
mountain ranges. Mr. Vigne, an early English tra-
veller in Kashmir for instance, thus describes one of
them,

" I well remember (he says) descending upon Chinini, after
my last journey to Little Thibet. I had not seen the plains

A CENTRAL AFRICAN MOUNTAIN VIEW. 437

of the Punjab for nearly a year; and it was evening when
they first suddenly burst upon my sight from the summit of
the pass. They were still seven days' march distant, beyond
the intervening ridges. So blue, so utterly boundless did thev
appear, that they might have been mistaken for the ocean,
had not the silvery windings of the Tani showed them to
be terra firma. I halted to enjoy the prospect that my fancy
presented to me as something like a substantial emblem of
infinity." *

In our own time, it has been our privilege to behold
many such sublime panoramas ; the recollection of
which still remains present to the mind with unfading
distinctness, affording a keen and ever-present sense
of enjoyment. Speaking of such a place seen amid
the wilds of Central Africa a recent traveller writes :

" It is wonderful what an effect getting to the top of a
hill has on one's spirits and thoughts. I love to go alone
on some mountain and look down from a great height. One
seems more or less to leave all the littleness of one's nature
in the valley below. With the wide view and pure fresh
breeze, one's thoughts and ideas seem to expand, and become
elevated— to be freer and better." f

Nevertheless the ascent of high mountains is by no
means a thing that always repays the cost and labour
of the attempt. Should conditions prove favourable the
scenery is of course ' magnificent : but mist and cloud
are so apt to settle upon the higher slopes of lofty
ranges, that when the mountaineer succeeds in getting
there, there may be little or nothing to see. Frequent
disappointments occur in this way, as clouds often form

* Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc., in 1838 — 9, by Godfrey H. Vigne,
1842, Vol. i., p. 193.

y Emin Pasha and the Rebellion at the Equator, by A. J. Monteney
Jephson, p. 295.

438 CLOUD-BELTS ON MOUNTAIN SLOPES.

with astonishing rapidity upon mountains, so that it is
seldom possible to judge how long the atmosphere will
continue clear.

The cloud-caps on mountains present several features
worthy of attention. The most common form of these
enshrouds the mountain tops with a screen of vapour,
impenetrable to the eye. These clouds may rest
immovably upon the higher slopes, even for days,
when the atmosphere a few thousand feet beneath
is quite clear, and the sun shining brightly, showing
how thoroughly local are these cloud-caps, which
are doubtless caused by the condensation of vapour
caused by the cold of these great elevations. At
other times a belt of smoke-like mist lies all along
the breasts of the hills, leaving the summits per-
fectly clear ; this form of cloud bank is very com-
mon on the Himalayas, and is probably due to the
cloud meeting with an opposing current of air, at its upper
limits, which prevents its ascending beyond that point.

In the rare instances where there are roads or lines of
mountain railway, it is often possible by this means to pass
up or down completely through the cloud-belt, into the
clear atmosphere of the higher or the lower levels. We
have seen a remarkable instance of this while descending
the railway from Darjeeling, in the Sikkim Himala-
yas. * At Ghoom, 7407 feet over sea-level, on the crest of
the ridge, the atmosphere was clear and frosty, descending
to "Sonada," 6390 feet, the train entered the cloud-belt.
At Toong, 5470 feet, the mist became very dense, and
the wind fell to a dead calm. At Kursong, 4732 feet,
no object was visible at over 50 yards. A little below
this the sky began to clear; and at Mahanaddy, 4120

* Jan. 23rd, 1893. Details extracted from the Author's notebooks.

CLOUDS RESTING OVER MOUNTAIN PEAKS. 43Q

feet, it was quite free from mist and the cloud-drift left
behind about i oo feet overhead. At Gynbaree, about 3000
feet, the sun was shining brightly. Hence it appears
that this cloud-belt was about 2000 feet in thickness.
Reaching the plains, about 4 p.m., there was bright
hot sun, but the cloud-belt was still distinctly visible
on the hill sides and the summits of the hills arose
above it, as before. We have seen the same phenomena
on the Swiss Rigi-Bahn and elsewhere.

Another remarkable form of cloud-cap, is where the
cloud stands motionless above, but quite clear of the
hill tops, apparently (seen from below) 100 or 200
feet above their crest. On Table Mountain, at Cape
Town, we have seen this occur on many occasions,
while a very strong wind was blowing at the time.
The explanation of this apparent incongruity, we venture
to suggest, is that the variation of temperature on
the mountain creates a fierce upcast of air, and that
the cloud drift backs up under lee of the peak, in
perfectly still atmosphere, just like water in the backwater
of a rapid in a river. This seems the more probable,
as it is always seen to windward. We have seen a
very perfect example of this form of cloud-cap resting
for over two hours above the Pic de Teneriife, when a
strong N.E. breeze was blowing. The cloud-cap was
to the S.W., and hung quite motionless, while the
peak remained in sight. *

Another constant source of interest and attraction
among mountains is created by the alternations of sun
and shade, which produce such continual changes of
tints and colours in the landscape that there is always

* Seen from the seaward April 30, 1894, from the R.M.SS. Norham
Castle.

440 MOUNTAIN STORMS.

something new to attract the eye and charm the senses.
But the grandest phenomenon of all is probably wit-
nessed during one of the sudden storms which are
of such frequent occurrence among high mountains.
At these times the distant views are generally shut
out by dense masses of rapidly driving cloud and mist,
rolling up from the valleys, whilst the tremendous
force of the gusts, the torrents of rain, hail, or blinding
snowdrift combined with the deafening peals of thunder,
frequently produce displays of Nature's power never to
be effaced from the memory. No one can be really said
to have seen the mountains, until he has beheld them
during this war of the elements, as well as in their
more placid moments of calm and sunshine. It is in
fact impossible to conceive anything more grand and
impressive or more awe-inspiring than the tumult that
rages around one during the height of one of these
tornadoes, with the deep voice of the thunder continually
breaking in, like the heaviest artillery, pealing with
truly appalling power among the surrounding hills.
Travellers thinking of making ascents to their higher
altitudes, should always closely watch the signs of the
weather, as well as take counsel with the local guides,
whom long experience has made more or less weather-
wise: for to be overtaken by one of these storms,
among the unfrequented crags or glaciers, far above
the inhabited regions, is always a serious, and often
an exceedingly dangerous thing, as in bad weather it
is very easy to lose the way. Tracks become effaced
with marvellous rapidity; tiny streamlets swell quickly
into raging torrents; and the scud of the driving mist
prevents any objects being discerned, except those in
the immediate neighbourhood.

TRAVELLERS OVERWHELMED IN SNOWSTORMS. 441

This makes travelling of any kind always a very
slow and difficult operation, and the night may close
in upon the adventurer before he can extricate himself
from his difficulties — or the impossibility of seeing
where one is going on account of the fog may of
itself alone, when the route lies through difficult and
dangerous ground, compel the party to seek the nearest
shelter that can be found, and come to a halt until
the weather clears. But these storms may sometimes
last two or three days, though this is fortunately a
comparatively rare event; still it is never possible to
make sure. It is therefore obvious that travellers may
be exposed to very great danger and privations. Want
of food, even for a single night, in the bitter cold of
high altitudes will always be severely felt, and there
is besides the constant risk of frost-bites, and of being
overcome by the cold.

The recent melancholy death of Mr. N., a dis-
tinguished scholar and fellow of Oxford University,
affords a good illustration of the risks to which climbers
are subject from storms during mountain ascents.
On August 25, 1892, he was attempting the ascent of
Mont Blanc in company with two guides from Cha-
mounix, and

" after leaving the Cabane of the ' Aiguille du Gouter,' (it seems)
they were overtaken by a violent snowstorm, which blinded
them and obliterated all tracks, the guides losing all reckoning
of their whereabouts. After vainly endeavouring to recover
the road, they dug a hole in the snow, and passed the night
there. Next morning the storm continued with unabated
violence. A start was made to risk an almost impossible
descent, but after an hour's fruitless battling with the storm,
Mr. N. fell exhausted and died, after shaking hands

442 HOSPICE OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD.

with both guides, and saying a few words in English, not
understood. About 4 p.m. the weather cleared, and the
guides made their way to the Refuge des Bosses, arriving
there in a pitiable condition." *

The losses on the pass of the Great St. Bernard,
and the story of the monks and their St. Bernard
dogs, is a history of which almost every child has
heard; and though the path is here clearly marked,
and generally very easy to follow, the winter previous
to our visit to the Hospice f a party (if we remember
correctly) of no less than five Italians, were all lost
in a snowstorm, by which they were overtaken while
attempting to reach the Hospice from the Swiss side;
and in 1825 all the dogs and three servants belonging
to this Hospice were destroyed by an avalanche. §

But this is as nothing compared with the much heavier
losses, which are of frequent occurrence among caravans
crossing the high passes of the Himalayas. In these
wild and lofty regions, tragedies of appalling magni-
tude have been recorded. For instance Mr. Knight,
in his recently published book, mentions that a few
months before he passed that way, a caravan of 300
mules and their drivers were overtaken by a storm
and lost on the Gilgit road in North Western Kashmir.

" One has (he says) to pick one's weather carefully to cross
a Himalayan pass in winter and spring, and when one does
get a chance one must hurry over quickly, for the sudden
fierce winds that often spring up are very formidable, and

* London Times of Aug. 29, 1892.

f Height over sea-level 8 1 1 1 feet, and said to have been founded
about A.D. 962 (see Murray's Handbook for Switzerland, 1891, 1 5th
Edition, part ii., p. 433).

§ See Murray's Handbook for Switzerland, part, ii., p. 536.

THE KHYBER PASS. 443

sometimes destroy whole caravans of travellers with their
deadly cold." *

These passes are of course the only means of communi-
cation between Central Asia and Hindustan ; and some
of the better known and more generally frequented
ones do a large traffic, and are crossed by large
caravans of both men and animals. The Khyber Pass,
from Peshawar into Afghanistan, is one of the most
renowned and best known of these. Caravan days at
present are Tuesdays and Fridays, and wheeled traffic
for ordinary vehicles ceases at Jamrud (Lat. 33° 58'
N., Long. 7i03ox E.) the present British frontier station:
[a permit is required for travellers proceeding beyond this
point:] but a practicable road was constructed during the
late war, which has since been kept in order, and consider-
ably improved, as far as All Musjid, a hill fort forming
one of the British advanced posts, beyond which point
the pass is at present closed to Europeans, unless
provided with a special order. Upon the occasion of
our recent visit to the Khyber we took careful note
of the traffic, and on the morning we started from
Jamrud, a caravan of over 350 camels, besides a good
many horses and donkeys, left for Afghanistan. We
also passed a company of pilgrims, on foot, quite 250
strong, all bound for the north.

The Khyber pass is probably the safest and easiest
of all the Himalayan passes, and is rarely incommoded
by snow, the mountains being none of them much over
5000 feet over sea-level at this point. It is however
subject to severe floods, which fill the streams occupying
the beds of the ravines, converting them into torrents

* Where Three Empires Meet, Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc., by
E. F. Knight, 1893, p. 103.

444 LOFTY HIMALAYAN PASSES.

which are sometimes so violent as to sweep away
everything in their course. From Ali Musjid, the
watershed is to the westward, towards Afghanistan, and
the highest point of the Khyber pass is given as 3372
feet over sea-level, and 2300 feet above the level of
the plain at Peshawar. *

Most of the Himalayan passes are however very
much higher than the Khyber, and the elevation of
their summits may be said to range from 12,000 to
14,000 feet, up to as high as 20,000 feet, but upon the
southern range of mountains in Thibet, though the
altitudes are often enormous, comparatively little snow
is found up to 16,000 or 17,000 feet in summer, the
condensation of aqueous vapours from the atmosphere
having for the greater part taken place upon the
southern eminences, as we have already stated.

We may instance the case of the country in the
neighbourhood of the Zoji La pass, in Ladak, whose
summit is given as 13,400 feet above sea-level, where
at an elevation of 16,000 feet on the adjoining mountain
slopes there is " often no snow in summer." f Professor
Huxley in fact draws the snow-line on the north side
of the Himalayas, at 16,600 feet. §

The Encyclopedia Britannica, a recognised authority
in geographical science, goes further, and says that
on the Indian watershed " the snow-line is not lower
than 18,500 feet and on the summit of the table land
(of Thibet) it reaches about 20,000 feet." ** For our-

* Imperial Gazetteer, 1868, Vol. ii, p. 75. (Article "Khyber Pass)."

j Where Three Empires Meet, Travels in Kashmir, Ladak, etc., by
E. F. Knight, 1893, pp. 105 — 6.

§ Physiography, by Professor T. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 1887, p. 64.

** Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xi, p. 831 (Article "The
Himalayas ").

SNOW-LINES. 445

selves however, as a result of our researches into existing
data we are disposed to regard this estimate as somewhat
overstated, if we are to regard that as the ordinary
limits of perpetual snow in those regions, which accounts
show might probably be fixed with greater accuracy at
about 18,000 feet. But the snow-lines on mountains
are apt to vary considerably from year to year accord-
ing to the nature of the seasons. Some years when
the average rainfall has been light it will be much
higher than at ordinary times. Mr. Whymper, in his
late work upon " Mountaineering among the Andes " of
Ecuador, suggests that it would be better to abandon
the attempt to fix a perpetual snow-line upon
mountains, because, as he explains at some length,
he regards it as misleading on account of the difficulty
in determining what the snow-line really is, or the
quantity of snow which would entitle a mountain to
be classed as one having a permanent snow-line. *

The term however is a convenient one, provided that
it is clearly understood to mean merely the approxim-
ate limits of perpetual snow which exist upon ordinary
occasions, according to the best available data ; bearing
in mind that, like the depth of a river, it is liable to
constant variations — it is conceivable for instance, that
a violent storm beating upon a particular point, might
denude a considerable area of newly fallen snow, and
as we know, large extents of exposed ridges and steep
slopes are often seen at very great elevations, surrounded
by eternal snows, t but remain themselves kept quite

* See Travels among the Great Andes of Ecuador, by Edwd'
Whymper, 1892, pp. 346 to 348.

f See The Alpine Guide to the Central Alps, by John Ball, F.R.S.,
p. Ixi of Introduction. (Such instances are also to be seen upon most
lofty mountain ranges).

446 WIND-SWEPT RIDGES.

clear of snow by the action of the winds. So also,
snow slides, descending a steep incline during heavy
storms, may bring down large masses of snow, some
of which may remain unmelted throughout the year,
at a point much below the usual limits of permanent
snow —it is therefore evident that the question of snow-
lines is one which is beset by many uncertainties, and
is liable to vary according to the interpretation which
is put upon the facts.

As regards the snow itself, its condition is also
subject to considerable variations, according to the
latitude and climate of the region where the moun-
tains are situated, and also according to the state of
the weather at the time of the snowfall. In northern
latitudes, for instance, when snow has fallen during
perfectly still weather, accompanied by an intense cold,
it is often, when examined under a magnifying glass,
found to consist of regular crystalline forms of ex-
quisite beauty. The different types of these snow
crystals, as they occur in the arctic regions, have
been minutely described at greal length, and by means
of illustrated diagrams, by Captain W. Scoresby, the
arctic navigator. * The same thing has been noticed
as regards the snow falling upon the high Alps, when
the air is calm. But " when the atmosphere is dis-
turbed the snow assumes a new condition, which is
that of small frozen pellets, a little larger than a pin's
head."f

It is this which forms the blinding dust well known

* See Scoresby's Arctic Regions. Vol. i., pp. 426 to 432 and plates
viii to xi inclusive, of 96 different forms of snow crystals.

f See The Alpine Guide to the Central Alps, by John Ball, F.R.S.,
p. Ixi of Introduction.

CONDITION OF THE SNOW. 447

to those who have had experience of Alpine "Tour-
mentes. " This is also the condition of the snow falling
during the intense cold accompanying blizzards, during
winter in the Hudson Bay Territory, and other parts
of the great plains of North America. It is called
"poudre" by the French Canadians, and is often al-
most as fine as flour; in this dry state it will neither
cake nor bind, and brushes off clothes without damping
them, exactly like dust. It is this sort of snow also
which forms what are known by Alpine guides as
" Staub Lawinen " or " dust avalanches. " * On ac-
count of its loose nature and lesser weight, these slides
of dust snow, though much more frequent and liable
to occur after every heavy fall of snow, are on the
whole less destructive than those formed of snow in a
more or less consolidated state.

Many cases have been recorded for instance of men,
and especially of animals, that have been buried for
many days and even for weeks in dust snow, but have
eventually worked their own way out, or have been
rescued by searching parties. This is explained by the
quantity of air that is contained in loose snow, which
enables the entombed creature to breathe freely, whereas
living beings caught in slides of consolidated snow
(called " Grund Lawinen " in the Alps) are very generally
crushed to death by the weight of the moving
mass.

When the sun by day and frost by night have had
time to act upon fallen snow it is gradually converted
into a heavy, white, opaque and granular mass, of great
weight, which frequently carries with it in its descent

* See The Alpine Guide (to the Eastern Alps), by John Ball, F.R.S.,
p. Ixviii. of Introduction.

448 AVALANCHES.

large quantities of earth, gravel and stones. These
" ground avalanches " usually occur in spring, when
the melting of the snows has set in, and are then of
course of a much more formidable nature than avalanches
of newly fallen snow.

One of the most remarkable phenomena accompany-
ing avalanches, is the blast of air which they carry
with them : this rush of air, like that which accompanies
explosions of various kinds, may at times prove very
destructive, and extend its influence for a considerable
distance on each side of the track of the avalanche; it
is said that even forest trees growing near are thus
sometimes uprooted and laid prostrate, without having
been touched by the avalanche. Thus in 1819 the
village of Randa in the Visp had many houses destroyed
by the blast accompanying a falling glacier, * and the
east spire of the convent of Disentis was thus thrown
down by the wind of an avalanche which fell more
than a quarter of a mile off. f

The explanation of this phenomenon is not far to
seek ; the vast bulk and momentum of the falling mass is
sufficient to create extensive displacement of the
surrounding air, which is impelled with a sudden and
violent rush on either side, and in advance of the track
of the avalanche, which thus has within certain limits
all the force of a violent tornado. Air, we must always
remember, though a very elastic gas, is subject to
considerable pressure at the earth's surface, which at
mean sea-level is estimated to amount to 14.7304 Ibs
to the square inch: and thus, as all experience shows,
when in rapid motion it represents a force whose

* See Murray's Handbook for Switzerland, I5th Ed. 1891 — part i., p. 69.
f Ibid., part i., p. 69.

MOUNTAIN VEGETATION. 449

magnitude it is not easy to place a limit upon. Wind
moving at the rate of 100 or 120 miles an hour will
thu s (in the form of a hurricane) be capable of levelling
most structures erected by human hands which lie
directly in its path.

We propose to close this section with a brief review
of the phenomena exhibited in great mountain regions
among the representatives of the vegetable kingdom,
which are not a little remarkable. The slopes of lofty
mountain ranges in fact constitute everywhere quite a
little world of their own, and at different elevations
their sides are marked by special belts of vegetation,
from the level of the plain to the limits of eternal snow.

It is a well ascertained fact that the range of plant
life is everywhere dependent upon temperature, com-
bined with the quantity of moisture contained in the
atmosphere, and the amount of the rainfall. The
geographical distribution of plants therefore depends
almost altogether upon climate, the nature of the
soil being with the great majority generally a
matter of comparatively minor consideration. It is true
that certain sorts of plants are much more fastidious
in their nature than others, and will only grow under
certain conditions, as to soil, aspect, etc. These plants
however constitute the minority, and the main principle
which governs the general aspect of the vegetation of
a country is climate. Now upon the slopes of a great
mountain every sort of climate prevails, according to
altitude, varying from that of the plain out of which
it takes its rise to that of the Arctic Zone. So again
in many parts of the world, one side of a mountain
range will have abundant moisture and copious rainfall,
while on the other, in the same parallel of latitude, there

VOL. II. 29

450 PLANT ZONES ON MOUNTAINS.

will perhaps be a dry atmosphere and very scanty
rainfall. These conditions, it so happens, are charac-
teristic of the climates upon all the world's greatest
mountain regions, notably for instance, upon the Andes,
the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Madre,
and many other important chains.

Furthermore from the very nature of things, almost
every variety of soil and aspect is to be found upon
extensive mountain ranges. The surface soil is washed
down by rains and streams into valleys and hollows and
forms more or less extensive areas of land of super-
excellent fertility, while in the immediate neighbour-
hood will very likely be extensive tracts of gravel
and rock, where trees and plants flourishing in those
descriptions of soil find their natural habitat: conse-
quently almost every species of vegetation finds some
spots adapted to its necessities, where it can grow and
flourish. Hence the magnificence of the timber and
other growths which are constantly met with upon the
mountain sides, often strikes one with surprise, especially
when the apparently barren situations, where they are
often seen growing, appear to be destitute of any regular
surface soil, and consisting almost entirely of dry sand
and gravel, or the detritus fallen from cliffs and other
rocks. In such situations, where it sometimes seems
difficult to imagine how they can find sufficient nutriment
to sustain life, splendid trees are often seen, the secret
of their growth being that the fertile portions of the
soil are mixed with or overlain by an exterior coat of
gravel, etc., which is constantly being carried down
from above, while rich veins of mould exist beneath,
where it has been washed in amongst the stones, into
which the roots penetrate sometimes to very great

MEYEN'S ZONES OF VEGETATION. 451

depths and draw their nourishment from unseen and
inexhaustible stores of soil and moisture.

In equatorial and tropical regions where the range
of climate is necessarily greatest, as might be expected,
all the different zones of vegetation will be found to
be well and clearly represented, and in such situations
a lofty mountain will often exhibit, between its summit
and its base, a complete epitome of the vegetation of
all the different climatic zones from the equator to the
pole. Professor Meyen has divided the surface of the
globe into eight great Phytogeographical divisions * or
ranges of vegetation, represented on the plains by
horizontal zones, and on the mountains by an equal
number of vertical ranges, or regions, corresponding
with the former in their respective productions, as
follows :

1. The Region of Bananas — from sea-level to an alti-
tude of 1900 ft.

2. The Region of Tree Ferns and Figs — from 1900 ft.
to 3600 and 3800 ft.

3. The Region of the Myrtacece and Laurinece — from
3800 ft. to 5700 ft.

4. The Region of Evergreen Dicotyledonous Trees —
from 5700 ft. to 7600 ft.

5. The Region of Oaks and European Dicotyledonous
Trees — from 7600 ft. to 9500 ft.

6. The Region of Abietince — from 9500 ft. to 1 1,500 ft.

7. The Region of Rhododendrons — from 11,500 ft. to
13,300 ft.

* Outlines of the Geography of Plants, by F. J. F. Meyen, M.D.,
Professor of Botany at the University of Berlin — translated by Margaret
Johnston for "The Royal Society," London 1866, p. 157.

452 REPLY TO OBJECTIONS TO MEYEN'S DIVISIONS.

8. The Region of Alpine Plants — from 13,300 ft. to
the region of perpetual snow. *

Of course in fixing the approximate limits to these
various regions Professor Meyen does not mean to
convey that hard and fast lines are drawn at these
points ; on the contrary, he is careful to point out that
the division of mountain flora into regions is, like every-
thing else, open to objections, and that on different
mountains in the same latitude there are sometimes
differences of several hundred feet in the vertical limits
of the same vegetation, f Nevertheless there can be
no doubt that the plan of dividing vegetation into a
tabulated system of zones, or regions, at the different
levels which the mean results of numerous observations
show that certain leading classes of plants ; generally
disappear, and others take their place, is a convenient
and useful guide to the student of Nature. It will no
doubt be easy to show that sometimes Professor Meyen's
limits do not accurately represent the range of plants
in certain districts, but more often it will be found
that at about these altitudes, they do as a rule cease
to appear.

It will be easy to show, for instance, that the banana
will grow far above 1900 feet above sea level; but if
so it will be not as a natural habitant, but as an exotic
— thus at Darjeeling with a mean elevation of some
7200 ft. over sea-level, there is a small botanical garden,
in which the banana may be seen growing in the open
air. It lives, that is all that we can say, but it is

* Otitlines of the Geography of Plants, by F. J. F. Meyen, M.D.,
Professor of Botany at the University of Berlin — translated by Margaret
Johnston for "The Royal Society," London, 1866, pp. 223 to 250.

f Ibid., p. 223.

THE BANANA ON MOUNTAINS. 453

neither handsome nor useful, but is a remarkable example
of how the flora of the plains country will gradually
become acclimatized, even at great altitudes. Settlers
are constantly bringing up offsets of the banana and
trying them, with varying success, at higher elevations
in these mountains, so much so, that we have more
than once found ourselves mentally debating the question,
will the day ever come when bananas will become
so far acclimatized as to grow in England. They have
already reached Algeria, the Canary Islands, and Madeira,
where they produce eatable fruit, though they are strictly
speaking habitants of the equatorial zone. On the
other hand the cocoa-nut will allow no such liberties
to be taken with its species, and so far as we could
judge by careful observations and enquiries in Ceylon,
it ceases to grow, at present, just about 1 900 feet above
the sea. Passengers on the railway from Colombo to
Kandy can see it for themselves. The cocoa-nut (Co cos
Nucifera] disappears just above Nawalapitiya, a station
on the line which the ordnance survey shows is 1913
feet over mean sea-level.

That Nature does place more or less fixed limits to
the range of the different forms of vegetation is plain
to be seen by an attentive observer of a great mountain
range, and with a good glass he can actually see where
the zones which she has drawn on the mountain sides begin
and end. Very interesting and instructive is this exami-
nation of distant hills, still covered by the natural forest,
by the aid of a powerful glass , which we look upon as a
sine qua non in making out the details of a wild country.
In the tropics, for instance, the traveller can see where
the palm trees gradually become blended among a dif-
ferent class of trees, and then cease to appear. There

454 THE REGION OF PALMS.

is no hard and fast line. Nature's operations are always
gradual, but nevertheless the general average limit
appointed for the palm tree, which forms such a con-
spicuous object in the tropical landscape, is plain to be
seen, and there it generally merges into an evergreen
forest of quite a distinct class of trees, which thrive
in the cooler atmosphere just above the region of the
palm. Considerably higher up again, it will be seen
where the evergreen forest gives place to deciduous
trees, whose leafless arms form a very distinct object
in such a landscape in winter time, and mark beyond
the possibility of a mistake how the increasing altitude
is accompanied by a constantly decreasing temperature.
This decrease of temperature may be fixed approxim-
ately at about one degree of Fahrenheit for every 300
feet of increased elevation ; * and in the same way we
may venture to assign 86° F. as the approximate
normal temperature of the tropical day at sea-level
throughout the torrid zone. But to proceed, and directing
our glass still further aloft, towards the mountain tops,
we generally find that above the region of deciduous
trees there comes a dark green belt of coniferous
forest, which is of course very distinctly marked upon
the hill sides; where that ends, a thin and straggling
belt of bush, consisting of willows and other similar
trees, appears, which forms the highest region of
arboreous vegetation (where there are no rhododendrons),
above which the great grass region of the higher
mountain slopes supplants the growth of trees entirely,
except were the bush runs up in sheltered hollows and
ravines; while above all comes the glacial region of
sterility, or eternal snow. Such, viewed from a dis-

* Encycl. Brit., 9th Edition, Vol. xi., p. 829.

THE GLACIAL KEGION. 455

tance by the aid of a glass, is a general outline of
what may be seen on the slopes of most great
mountains, but to determine its exact botanical features
of course requires a regular investigation by a skilled
observer going all over the ground.

In what we may call the glacial region, vegetation
almost ceases. Nevertheless mosses and lichens still
continue to exist on rocks, sometimes for a consider-
able height above the snow line. Thus on Chimborazo,
the great volcano of Ecuador, lichens were observed
by Mr. Whymper up to 18,400 feet. Even an earth-
worm was found by him on the summit of Corazon at
15,870 feet, and specimens of butterflies and moths
reached about 16,000 feet. * This finding of a deli-
cate insect like a butterfly at these great altitudes and
amid the rigours of an arctic temperature is a curious
circumstance, but the same thing has been observed
on the Himalayas, at even considerably greater heights.
In the account of the British Government Expedition
from Lahore to Yarkand in 1870, under command of
Sir Thos. D. Forsyth, for instance, the existence of a
spotted butterfly (Parnassius A ceo] is duly recorded
as having been observed near the highest point of a
pass, known as " Cayley's Pass," 19,600 feet over sea-
level, at a point where there was no vegetation within
ten miles, f

The enormous height of many of these higher Hima-
layan passes is all carefully detailed from measurements

* Travels among the Great Andes of Ecuador, by Edward Whymper,.
1892, pp. 350 to 353.

•j- Lahore to Yarkand, Account of the Rotite and Countries traversed
by the Expedition under Sir T. Douglas Forsyth, by Geo. Henderson,
Medical officer to the Expedition, and Allan O. Hume, F.Z.S., published
J873, p. 74. For name of Butterfly see list at end of the VoL
P- 305.

456 GREAT COLD ON THE THIBETAN TABLE-LANDS.

taken on the spot in this interesting and valuable work,
the expedition having traversed a section of country
consisting of a tremendously elevated region, in its
march from Leh, the capital of the Hill State ofLadak,
to Yarkand, which latter place is situated in the great
Central Asian plains, to the northward of the Himalayas,
in Lat. 380 24' i" N., Long. 77° 15' 55" E., at an
altitude 3,923 feet above sea-level. The reports of
this expedition give almost the only really reliable
account of this wonderful region which exists up to
the present. The whole of the party, as might be
expected, suffered severely from the cold, and from
the extreme rarefication of the air, while crossing these
great altitudes, and many of their baggage animals
perished from the same cause. Almost the whole of
this route lies in what we have designated as " The
Glacial Region," which we have already spoken of as
the last and highest of the climatic zones in the great
mountain regions.

One of the curious facts connected with these great
altitudes, which we ought not to pass by without
remark, is the difficulty which is experienced in cook-
ing anything, on account of the reduced pressure of
the atmosphere. We need hardly remind our readers
that water boils, at sea-level, at a temperature of 2,1 2 *>
Fahr., and that its boiling point is reduced progres-
sively, according to the increase in the altitude. The
decrease in the boiling point is ascertained to be one
degree Fahrenheit in the first 521 feet over sea-level,,
where the boiling point is 211° F., but this proportion
slowly increases with increasing altitude, and that being
;so, advantage has been taken of the circumstance to
determine the heights of mountains by the boiling points

LOW BOILING POINTS OF WATER. 457

of water, for which purpose a regular set of tables has
been computed, * by the help of which and some simple
arithmetical calculations, the approximate height at which
the observer then stands above mean sea-level is at
once indicated. The results however are not altogether
reliable, as different thermometers will be found to
vary considerably when their boiling points are tried
against each other at the same time and place, as also
will their indications of atmospheric temperatures. This
however involves a number of technical considerations,
which are outside the limits of our present purpose :
\ve shall therefore merely say that at 18,000 or 19,000
feet above sea-level, the boiling point is so materially
reduced f that the finger can be plunged into boiling
water without scalding it, and the difficulties in cooking
things of course become greatly increased. The report
of the Expedition to Yarkand for instance, states that
" our servants found it impossible to cook pulse, and
tea required to be actually boiled for some time,
instead of being only infused." § The same fact has
been frequently noticed by travellers in different parts
of the world, while crossing high mountains, and the
thing becomes a matter of serious moment, when
one is accompanied by a lot of native servants,
who live almost exclusively on rice and things

* See " Tables " for the determination of heights by the temperaturl
of boiling water etc. in Hints to Travellers, Edited for the Counci
of the Royal Geographical Society — 5th Edition revised to 1883, pp.
181 to 185'

f At 19,300 feet water will boil at about 177° Fahr., and a further
ascent of about 585 feet will at this great elevation cause the boiling
point to fall one degree lower.

^ Lahore to Yarkand, Account of the Rotite as traversed by the Ex-
pedition under Sir T. Douglas Forsyth, by Geo. Henderson, Medical
Officer to the Expedition, and Allan O. Hume, F.Z.S., 1873, p. 76.

45 8 COOKING AT GREAT ELEVATIONS.

which require to be properly boiled before they become
eatable.

At the Hospice of the great St. Bernard, situated at
the top of the pass over the Alps, 8 1 1 1 feet above the
level of the sea, for instance, it is stated, on the authority
of Murray's handbook for Switzerland, that the conditions
for cooking are so much less favourable than on the
plains, that " it requires 5 hours to effect that which
at a lower elevation may be done in 3 hours."*

The cold in the Glacial Region of great mountain
ranges is of an exceedingly penetrating nature, and in
conjunction with the lowered vitality of the system
caused by the rarefied atmosphere, which renders every
form of active exertion extremely difficult and exhausting,
it becomes harder to bear than if experienced at a
lower level. The reports of the expedition to Yarkand
show that on the great table-lands of Thibet its effects
were greatly felt, for it is stated, that

"Encamped on the plain at 17,300 feet, we experienced
great discomfort from the high wind, which begins almost
every day to blow from the W. and S.W. about 10 a.m., and
increases to a hurricane in the afternoon. Then it gradually
subsides, and at midnight the air is calm again. Travellers
have not infrequently been killed by this wind, which at
times is so cold as to destroy vitality in a very short time.
Both men and horses now suffered greatly from the rarity
of the air, and some of our men lay down on the plain
completely exhausted." f

This condition of the atmosphere renders respiration
so laboured that travellers from the plains find them-

* Murray's Handbook for Switzerland, 1891, 1 5th Edition, Part ii,

PP- 533—4-

f Lahore to Yarkand ^ Accoimt of the Expedition, Route and Countries
traversed iinder Sir T. Dotiglas Forsyth, by Geo. Henderson, Medical
Officer to the Expedition, and Allan O. Hume, F.Z.S., 1873, p. 77.

GAME AT GREAT ELEVATIONS. 459

selves obliged to keep the mouth constantly open, and
pant after the slightest exertion, exactly as if they had
taken a smart run. The cold air thus obtaining admission
into the mouth and lungs is likely to give rise to
considerable risks of various kinds of ailments, one of
the most frequently annoying of which is toothache,
as also congestive inflammation of the respiratory
organs.

If a man has carious or defective teeth, the keen
air is almost certain to affect such teeth, and cause
severe toothache. The teeth therefore should always
be seen to before setting out upon a trip through a highly
elevated region. It is however fortunate that the
cold at these altitudes is always very dry, the risks
of lung troubles, etc., being thereby greatly min-
imized, and there can be little doubt that it is owing
to the dry condition of the atmosphere that the wild
animals which inhabit the higher ranges of great
mountains are enabled to support the cold constantly
prevailing at these great altitudes. There are several
descriptions of game animals whose natural home
lies entirely above the limits of the forest growth, upon
the rugged and grass covered slopes which intervene
between the trees and the snow line. These animals
are mostly of the goat and sheep family, and some
of them rarely or never descend to the wooded portion,
but even during the severest winters continue to find
shelter and sustenance on rugged and precipitous slopes,
where the freezing winds which sweep these barren
heights generally keep them pretty free from snow.
For instance Colonel Kinloch thinks that the Burrel
(Ovis Nah2ira) which inhabits the bleak table -lands of
Thibet and the higher Himalayas generally, is probably

460 THIBETAN SHEEP.

" never found at a lower elevation than 10,000 feet." *
The great Thibetan sheep (Ovis Hodgsonii], said to
be the largest wild sheep yet discovered, is another
of these creatures whose home is thus described by
Colonel Kinloch :

" On the wild bleak uplands of Thibet, where for hundreds
of miles not a tree is to be met with, where in every direction,
as far as the eye can reach, there is nothing but a vast
expanse of barren soil, rock and snow; where there is no
shelter from the glare of a cloudless noon, nor from the
freezing winds that sweep the naked hills with relentless force
towards the close of day ; here, in the midst of solitude and
desolation, where animal life has to struggle for existence
under every disadvantage, is the home of this great wild sheep, "f

Of the wild goat species we may mention the Tahr
(Capra Jemlaicd], the spiral-horned markhoor (Capra
Megaccros], and the straight-horned variety (Capra
Jerdoni), and last but not least, the splendid Himalayan
ibex (Capra Sibericd] whose finely curved horns some-
times measure 43 or 44 inches in length. All of these
are animals inhabiting the great Himalayan range and
are rarely found descending to the limits of the forest.
In North America we may cite a similar instance in
the big-horn, or great American wild sheep (Ovis
Montana] which inhabits the highlands of the Rocky
Mountains and other lofty hills in the far west. Colonel
Bodge considers that "this splendid animal ranks,
among the horned beasts of the Great West, next
in size to the elk." §

* Large Game Shooting in Thibet, the Himalayas and Northern
India, by Colonel Kinloch of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, Calcutta,
1885, p. 163.

j Ibid., p. 170.

§ The Htmting Grounds of the Great West, by Richard J. Dodge,
Lt>Col. U.S.A., 1877, p. 205.

MOUNTAIN PASTURES. 461

It is a remarkable fact that wild sheep of different
kinds, unlike their domesticated relations, are all deni-
zens of rocky precipitous mountains of great altitude,
where they can enjoy a very cool atmosphere and
feed upon the sweet tufted grasses that grow at inter-
vals among the crevices of the rocks. The soft fleece
of the domestic breeds is also unknown among the
wild varieties, whose coats consist of a species of
coarse hairy wool, which is nevertheless admirably
adapted to protect them from the rigours of the glacial
region which they inhabit.

There are of course numerous animals which ascend
to the great region of high pasture lands, during the
heats of summer, mainly probably with a view to get
away from the heat and the attacks of flies, which at
this season in many parts of the world render the
woods and lowland pastures almost uninhabitable. The
herbage of these high slopes is mostly short and close
growing, forming an excellent pasturage, one of \vhose
peculiarities is the enormous quantities of wild flowers,
with which Nature has adorned them, full of brilliant
colours, and many of them possessing a powerful
aromatic fragrance. Charming bouquets of these wild
flowers of many kinds may here be culled by those
who are admirers of floral beauty.

But above all, from these lofty eminences, the tra-
veller or the sportsman, if favoured with clear weather,
can make sure of enjoying bracing air and some of
the grandest scenery which it is possible to behold.

If he is a prudent man and not pressed for time, or
if as an experienced hunter he has come in search of
sport, he will probably stop often, and sit down and
scan the surrounding expanse with careful minuteness

462 MOUNTAIN SPORTING TRIPS.

by the aid of a good glass, in order to ascertain whether
game is feeding or lying down anywhere upon the
adjacent slopes. There is no object in hurrying over
the ground, for the hunter who does so is pretty sure
to be observed by the sharp eyes of game, long before
he detects their presence. His success therefore in
such case is likely to be small. All this leaves plenty
of opportunity to admire the scenery, and every now
and again vistas between the hills will open out distant
prospects of miles of leafy forests, or of dark and
apparently fathomless valleys, far beneath, or else
perhaps of sunlit plains spreading forth in the lowlands
somewhat veiled in mist, like the blue expanse of some
vast and silent ocean; for from these great elevations
and at these great distances, irregularities of surface
become merged into one apparently level expanse
which to all intents and purposes exactly resembles a
distant sea. And if in the course of his wanderings
upon the mountains the visitor fails to see much that
is worthy of his highest admiration, and comes away
from them without carrying away with him a lasting
recollection of the grandeur and beauty of the mighty
panorama that is spread out before him, why the fault
Avill be his own, and not that of the object lesson
which Nature has exhibited to his gaze.

CHAPTER XII.

THE GREAT RIVER SYSTEMS.

Rivers Constructing their Own Channels. Varieties of River Tracks.
The Mountain Track. The Valley Track. The Plains Track. River
Estuaries. Bars. Bar of the Columbia River. Estuaries free from
Bars. Great Estuary of the St. Laurence. Inaccessible Estuaries.
Process of Formation of a River Channel. Rock-cut Gorges. Chains
of Lakes. The Great American Lakes. Niagara. Formation of Alluvial
Plains. The Great Plain of Northern India. Evidences of its Fresh
Water Origin. Its Vast Extent and Monotony. Flat Gradients of Indian
Railways. Results of Borings in the Indian Plains. The Tertiary or
Marine Strata underlying it at Great Depths. The Great Plains of Central
Asia. Their Gigantic Size and Treeless Character. Area of the Steppes.
Steppe Ravines. The Drifting Snows. The Great Indian Plain and
the Steppes Contrasted. Water in the Architecture of Nature. Its
Rock-cutting Power. The Carrying Powers of Water. Torrents. The
Imatra Torrent. Himalaya Torrents and Ravines. Their Vast Depth.
Wonderful Gorge of the Indus near Iskardoh. Rise of the Great
River Systems mostly in Unknown Solitudes. Their Waters Lost in
the Ocean. Classification of Water-borne Debris. Power of Streams
Flowing at Various Speeds. Matters held in Chemical Solution.
Precipitation. Annual Discharge of Silt by the Thames. Effects of
Denudation in the British Islands. Sedimentary Deposits and Formation
of New Lands. River Deltas. The River Amazon. Its Navigable
Extent. Its Great Tributaries. The Ganges. The Sundarbans. Influence
of the Tides in the Ganges Delta. The Ganges and the Bramaputra
in the Rainy Season. The Ganges Channel from Benares to the Sea.
Causes of the Impetuous Current during the Rains. Water as an In-
clined Plain. The Cross Sections of Rivers. The Hooghly at Calcutta.
Its Terrible Currents and Shifting . Sands. Accidents to Shipping.
Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. The Nile Delta. The Nile Mouths.
Nile Mud. Agriculture in the Nile Delta. The Nile Valley. Central
African Lakes. The White and the Blue Nile. The Nile Tributaries
of Abyssinia. The Cataracts of the Nile. The Great Nubian Desert.
The Caravan Trade. Inundations ot the Nile. Struggle of the Nile
with the Desert. Sakiyehs. Es Shaduf. Irrigation Canals. The
Equatorial Rains. Progress of the Inundation. The "Lelet-en-Nuktah."
Festival of the Letting out of the Waters. The Zone of Perpetual
Rains. Torrential Rainbursts in the Zone of Single Rainy Seasons.
Great Rainstorm in the Abyssinian Soudan. The River Indus. The
Mighty Torrents of the Mountain Track. The Great Gorge at Iskardoh.

463

464 THE GREAT RIVER SYSTEMS.

Sudden Floods on the Upper Indus. The Indus as the Military Frontier
of North Western India. Attock. Wild Scenery. Tremendous Cur-
rents and Floods. Kalabagh. The Indus Debouching into the Plains.
Ancient Invasions of India and the Indus River. Invasion by Alexander
the Great. By Tamerlane. By Nadir Shah. The Sack of Delhi.
The Ancient Invasions Practically Unopposed. Modern Military
Opinion as to the Value of the Indus Frontier. " India between two
Fires." Influence thereon of the British Navy. The Plains Track of
the Indus. The Indus during the Rains. The Punjab, the Land of
The Five Rivers. Their Juncture with the Indus. Sir C. Napier's De-
scription of the Impassable Character of the Indus. "Nullahs" issuing
from the Indus. Battles of Miani and Dabo. The Embouchure of the
Indus. Karachi. American Rivers. The Mississippi-Missouri. Valley
Track of the Upper Mississippi. The Plains Track of the Lower
Mississippi. Inundations. Delta and Bar of the Mississippi. Missis-
sippi Steamers. Dangers of the Navigation. Snags. Mississippi Steam-
boat Accidents. Burning of "The Prairie Belle." The Mississippi
Passes. Lake Ponchartrain. Mississippi Swamp Lands. Discover)' of the
Mississippi. Its Influence on the Naval Power of the United States. The
Saint Lawrence. The Great Lakes. Niagara River. Navigation and
Tides of the St. Lawrence. Quebec as a Great Fortress. Influence of
Sea Power upon History. The Conquest of Canada. Panorama seen
from the Ramparts of Quebec. The Falls of Montmorency. Ice upon
the St. Lawrence. Break-up of the Ice. Sudden Transition from Winter
to Spring. Estuary of the St. Lawrence. Mighty Cliffs of the Saguenay.
Sea Mouth of the St. Lawrence. The Bird Rocks. The Banks of
Newfoundland.

EACH of the great continents is drained by its own
river systems. During the course of uncounted
ages the rains have excavated these channels across
the surface of the land, as a vent for the surplus waters
on their descent to that great general reservoir, the
ocean. It looks -as if these mighty channels, which
we are about to describe, had been constructed by a
special design of The Great Architect of Nature for
the rivers: but it is not so. This great work of con-
struction was assigned to the rivers themselves. Ac-
cording to the law of gravitation they effected this by
the constant flow of their current, continually eating
into the plain, and wearing away the surface of the
solid rock. In this great work of the water, an admir-

THE COURSE OF A GREAT RIVER. 465

able object lesson is conveyed to mankind, illustrating
the truth of the old adage that "Perseverance will
effect wonders," for with what seem to all appearance
very small and inadequate resources, water alone has
gradually excavated these wonderful channels of enorm-
ous length and magnitude which we call rivers.

Their courses, which are engineered with marvellous
skill and cunning, have like their channels been automati-
cally determined simply by the force of gravitation;
wherever the lowest level was, there the water flowed,
winding and turning as the contour of the ground
required; ultimately by dint of constant labour it cut
its way through every opposing obstacle, often literally
for thousands of miles, until at last it effected its junc-
ture with the ocean.

The course of every great river may be divided into
three parts: (i) The Mountain Track; (2) The Valley
Track ; (3) The Plains Track ; * to which for the main
streams we may add a fourth, namely that highly im-
portant portion, from a commercial point of view, known
as the estuary or tidal section, where the salt water
mingles with the fresh. The mountain track will generally
be represented, in extensive river systems, by torrents
descending from the hills, whose turbulent course has
been briefly noticed in the preceding section on great
mountain regions. The valley track will be represented
by the river, already perhaps grown into a stream of
considerable magnitude, as it issues from the hills, and
winds its way still tumbling and tossing through the
highlands of the interior of the continent, where though
its course is necessarily less turbulent than upon its
first portion, it is still generally greatly obstructed by

* Encyd. Brit., 9th edit, Vol. x., p. 275 (Article "Geology").
VOL. II. 30

466 RIVER ESTUARIES.

rapids and other obstacles, which render it therefore of
little account as a navigable stream. The plains track,
on the contrary, is generally through a comparatively
level country where the river flows in a wide, deep,
and tranquil current, and this portion of its channel in
a great river is very often navigable, sometimes for
hundreds and occasionally even for thousands of miles.
The river Amazon, for example, together with its
tributaries, it is computed, affords free navigation over
not less than 30,000 miles, all, or almost all of which
lies within Brazilian territory. *

Then the estuary or tidal portion of a river, which
is of such vast importance as a port of entry for ocean-
going ships, is subject to a great variety of conditions,
which differ very much in character on every river.
In the first place there are of course the different falls
of the river beds, and next there is the question of the
rise and fall of the tides, which in some places is very
great and in others comparatively small. Thus the
Mersey, with an extreme tidal rise of 30 feet at its
mouth, is only tidal for 46 miles ; whilst the Seine, with
a rise of 22 feet, is tidal for 91 miles; and the Scheldt,
with a rise of only 13^ feet, is tidal up to Ghent, 105
miles, f

When a river enters the sea abruptly, the silt which
is carried out by the current is sure to be driven
back by the waves and to be deposited in obstructing
barriers near its mouth, forming dangerous bars, on
which the surf during storms beats with terrific
violence; the entrance to such rivers in bad weather

* Encyd. Brit., gth edit., Vol. iv., p. 221 (Article "Brazil").
t Encycl. Brit., Qth edit., Vol. xx., p. 576 (Article "River Engin-
eering ").

THE BAR OF THE COLUMBIA. 467

is therefore full of perils for shipping. We may cite
the mouth of the Columbia river, on the north-west
coast of America, as a good instance of this kind;
we were once nearly wrecked in making the entrance
to this river : the vessel touched ground, the surf almost
engulfed it, and would have quickly destroyed it,
had she not floated off almost immediately, for though
there was very little wind, a heavy swell came in
from seaward.

" Mere description," says Commodore Wilkes, U.S.N.,
u can give little idea of the terrors of this bar. All
who have seen it have spoken of the wildness of the
scene, and the incessant roar of the waters, as one of
the most fearful sights that can possibly meet the eye
of a sailor." * In our time the only way was to
cross the breakers well toward the southward end of
the bar, and once these were safely passed, the noble
river affords a secure and commodious anchorage for
ships of the largest size, and is navigable by them
for about 100 miles, up to the Cascades. According
to a high authority, " The flood of the Columbia when
at its height presents a magnificent spectacle, gliding
past swiftly, but with majestic silence, bearing along
gigantic forest trees, whose immense trunks appear
as mere chips upon its waters." f All this is however
changed for a scene of wild confusion when the bar
is reached. Here a heavy swell from the almost bound-
less expanse of the Pacific Ocean, is nearly always
coming in, even during the finest weather, which when
met by the opposing current creates a commotion
that must be seen to be realized.

* Imperial Gazetteer, Edited by S. W. Blackie, 1860, Vol. i., p. 726
(Article "Columbia River").
t Ibid,, Vol. i., p. 333.

468 BEST FORMS OF RIVER ESTUARIES.

The best form for a river estuary is, when it enlarges
gradually as it approaches the sea, affording free
scope for the entrance of the tide, and promoting a
regular flow of the waters. Estuaries of this form are
said to be generally free from bad bars, * the channel
being kept clear by the aid of the fresh water discharge,
which being penned up by the flood tide, reinforces
the ebb, and so produces an equilibrium. The Thames,
the Severn, and the Scheldt, may be cited as examples
of the latter form of estuary ; but above all that of
the great river St. Lawrence forms the noblest of all
examples of this kind. The St. Lawrence has a clear
channel for ships of the largest size for over 550
miles, as far as Montreal; and the tide ascends the
river to lake St. Peters, a distance of nearly 500
miles, f Taking it as a whole the estuary of the St.
Lawrence may be considered as the most perfect
example of a great river embouchure in the world,
but its obstruction by ice in winter-time constitutes a
serious drawback.

On the other hand the river Ganges is an instance
of a mighty stream losing itself in a swampy delta,
traversed by an infinite number of intricate shifting
channels, which render it almost inaccessible to ship-
ping. The Indus is another river wholly inaccessible
for seagoing ships from similar causes.

The embouchures of all the great rivers, however,
exhibit each their own special peculiarities; these are
endless in detail, so that it would be both tedious and
unprofitable to dwell further upon this branch of our
subject; but before proceeding to glance at what ap-

* Encycl. Brit., gth edit., vol. xx.. p. 576.

f Norie's Navigation, 2ist edition 1877, p 352 — ("Tidal Tables.")

THE BIRTH OF A GREAT RIVER. 469

pear to be the most noteworthy features of a few of
the principal river systems, it is we think desirable
to briefly consider the probable process of formation
of a great river channel, in its geological sense.

A moment's reflection will be sufficient to convince
any observant mind how vast must have been the
changes which time has produced upon every river
channel; as for instance, where the water has worn
deep gorges for long distances through masses of
solid rock. Let us endeavour to conceive what must
have been the probable condition of such a river, in
the earlier stages of its existence. Originally, there
can be little doubt that as its waters descended from
the highlands they must have encountered numerous
obstructions, -which barred their progress to the sea;
that must have entailed the formation of more or
less gigantic lakes at each of these points, where the
waters were pent up until they filled the whole catch-
ment basin to the rear of them, and finally overflowed
the crest of the barrier: the stream would then have
been free to descend on the opposite side, gradually
eating its way through the obstruction, as it flowed.
Most of us can doubtless recall numerous instances
where we have ourselves seen such lakes, which still
exist in the courses of streams; and where, if we
view the matter aright, we can daily see them at
their unceasing work of cutting through the obstruct-
ing barrier.

Visitors to the Upper Engadine in Switzerland will
see a good example of this in the chain of lakes oc-
cupying the bed of that valley, which empty their
surplus waters, proceeding from the melting snows,
from one lake into the other, by the connecting torrents,

470 THE VALLEY OF THE UPPER ENGADINE.

until they pass over the falls into the rocky gorge
below St. Moritz, and out into the lower levels beyond.
This rock-cut gorge is a fine example of the excavat-
ing power of swiftly running water, and shows where
the river has already burst its way through the high
divide which originally existed at this point. Near its
exit from this gorge it is joined by another stream
proceeding from the Bernina chain, which as it passes
below the village of Pontresina, affords a good though
minor example of another form of channel, in the deep
canon with perpendicular walls which the stream has
cut in the solid rock at that point. The visitor to
these parts will however probably have had the oppor-
tunity of seeing the splendid example of the canon on
the Albula river, while crossing the pass of that name.
The spot we refer to is situated just above the village
of Alvaneu, where the road for more than a thousand
feet is hewn or blasted out of the face of the cliff,
with the torrent roaring at a depth of 500 or 600 feet
below. * But enhanced as these European examples
of rock gorges are by the undoubtedly beautiful scenery
by which they are surrounded, when regarded as
examples of the errosive force of water, or as specimens
of great rock- worn river channels only, they of course
fall very far behind other examples of the same kind
which are to be seen in many other parts of the world,
less well known to the British tourist. As a vast
system of lakes forming mighty reservoirs in connec-
tion with a great river system, the world can show
nothing at all to compare with the great lakes dividing
Canada and the United States, which find their exit

* Murray's Handbook for Switzerland, Route 93 — Coire to Samaden:
in the Engadine.

THE GREAT LAKES OF NORTH AMERICA. 471

to the sea by the river St. Lawrence. These great
lakes form admirable examples of overflow reservoirs,
such as we have spoken of. We here see a mighty
river channel still in process of formation, and in ages
yet to come, should the Niagara falls cut their way
back through the rocky obstruction into softer strata,
the world might yet see these great lakes much re-
duced in size, and portions of their beds converted into
alluvial plains, such as we see many examples of
throughout the world. Great level plains of this sort
often excite the astonishment of beholders, and give
rise to many surmises respecting their probable origin.
In many cases we believe that they have been thus
formed by the deposits of water, beneath which they
have been submerged when they were the beds of
immense lakes, at an earlier epoch of the world's
existence. In some cases it may be that these waters
may have been those of the ocean; but if so, the fact
is generally made apparent by the discovery of marine
shells and other remains of the ancient sea ; but there
are other notable cases, where for great depths below
the present surface of the land the remains are all of
fresh water origin; and that being so, is strong pre-
sumptive evidence of the former existence of some
mighty lake, from whose waters these alluvial deposits
were formed, throughout an epoch of geological time
of whose magnitude the human mind can form no
adequate idea, and in comparison with which the whole
period of historical time is dwarfed into absolute insig-
nificance. The time occupied in the formation of
lacustrine deposits is immense. Mr. G. F. Richardson,
formerly one of the staff of the British Museum, in
regard to this matter says: "Lakes are ascertained to

47 2 LACUSTRINE DEPOSITS.

shoal up, or deposit sediment, in the proportion of only
a foot in a century." *

In connection with this question of flat plains con-
sisting of the alluvial deposits of fresh water, we deem
it right to call attention to the geology of the more
recent strata underlying the surface of the great plain
of Northern India. It would ill become us however,
to hazard any definite opinion upon so great a ques-
tion as the means by which this mighty table-land was
originally formed; at present there is not evidence to
enable anyone to form a decided opinion about the
matter, we shall therefore content ourselves with giving
a brief outline of the facts which have been collected
about it.

" It is (says the Encyclopedia Britannicd] an alluvial
deposit of sandy clay, on the surface of which nothing
in the shape of a pebble can be found, except in the
immediate vicinity of the hills." f According to the
same authority, there is no evidence either for or
against its having been laid out by the sea — "on the
one side (it proceeds to point out) it is difficult to
understand how so even a surface could have been
produced otherwise than under the sea; while on the
other there is a complete want of marine remains." §
The marine remains, we venture to remark, are confined
to the older tertiary strata, which lie far below the
present level of these great plains; as is shown by
these rocks appearing, deflected upwards, in the way
we have already described in our preceding section
on Mountain Ranges, with such fossils in them, near

* Richardson's Geology and its Associate Sciences, 2nd edition, p. 86,
f Encyclop. Brit., gth edit., Vol. xi., p. 827 (Article "Himalayas"),
§ Ibid.

FORMATION OF THE INDIAN PLAINS. 473

the foot of the higher Himalayas; but the remains
found in the beds overlying these tertiary strata, and
nearer to but still beneath the surface of the plain,
are terrestrial and not marine. Also we venture to
assert, that the flat surface of the plains might have
been produced under fresh water, as well as under
the sea.

The question then arises, did these great plains once
form the bed of a gigantic lake? It is obvious that
such a lake need not necessarily have been very deep
to form this plain, but merely that its surface should
have been submerged beneath the water. Now, " the
great plain of Northern India stretches with an almost
unbroken surface along the foot of the Himalayas,
from the Upper Indus to the head of the Delta of the
Ganges. Its area is about 500,000 square miles. It
nowhere rises to more than 1000 feet above sea-level,
and to the unassisted eye appears a perfectly dead
flat." *

All those who have travelled or resided in India
will doubtless retain a very vivid recollection of the
trying heat and dreary monotony of these vast and
interminable plains; where day after day, and week
after week, the wayfarer used to toil painfully along
before the days of railways; and where each day's
journey was but a repetition of that of the previous
day. Since then, the railways have reduced the tedium
of this great journey to a minimum; and yet still, as
we know, for days we can go ahead on the railways,
and see plains, and nothing but plains, of this apparently
dead level character. We however found that very
little of the ground was really level ; nevertheless the

* Encyclop. Brit., Qth edit., Vol. xi., p. 823.

474 GRADIENTS ON INDIAN RAILWAYS.

gradients are often very slight. On the Indian lines
the gradients are generally clearly marked on boards,
placed at intervals along the railways, so that the
traveller can see for himself what they are. We shall
quote a few instances from our own notes to give the
reader a more exact idea of this. Then, as regards
the levels of lands obviously newly laid out by the
sediment of water : it is unnecessary to go further than
to the sea shore, where extensive sand or mud flats
are exposed at low water. Here we shall find that it
is all laid out in flat inclines, exactly in this way, as
proved by the water all running off to seawards as the
tide recedes. So also on the Indian plains and rail-
ways these inclines are clearly shown. On a very
level section of the Rajputana-Malwa Railway * we
made careful note of some of these, and found gra-
dients varying from i in 300 up to i in 750 very
common. Near Rawari we observed gradients of i in
1000 ; at the 2goth mile post one of i in 1666, and
even one of i in 2000 near Rawari Junction: but the
bits marked " level " were comparatively rare, and also
were always short lengths, wherever they did occur.
Now the object of entering into these technicalities
is to impress the great improbability of such a country
being laid down by any other natural agency, except
that of water in a state of rest. Assuming for the
sake of argument that these flats were levelled by the
deposit of still water, like that of a lake, it is just in the
condition in which we might have expected to find it.
If it should be so, that the great plain of Northern
India was in bygone ages (as we believe to be probable)

* Or Northern Section of the Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian
Railway.

LAKES EVACUATING THEIR OWN WATERS.

formed by the deposits of some gigantic lagoon : the
tendency would be, as we have shown, for this mighty
sheet of water gradually to evacuate itself, by its
overflow cutting through whatever it was that ob-
structed its outfall. It can be, we think, very conclusively
shown that such is the actual tendency of every other
existing lake, and the margins of most of the extensive
inland sheets of water generally show evident traces
of their own levels having been lowered, in this
manner, throughout the course of time. The process
of cutting through obstructions must however, in all
cases be a very gradual one; and of course its effect
would be to lower the level of the lake by degrees,
as the operation proceeded, until the waters in the
end became evacuated altogether, leaving the bed of the
ancient lake, laid out by the retreating waters in long
and very gradual slopes, very much as we now see
it upon the plain of Northern India.

Opinions of course may differ as to how the mighty
work of levelling off the surface of this great plain
was effected. It looks, as we have said, as if it had
been the sea. But that is merely because people find
it perhaps harder to believe in the existence of so
great a lake ; but the fact to which attention has already
been called, that no marine remains appear in the
surface strata, but only those of terrestrial origin, is
very significant. These facts are not only conclusively
shown by the examination of the surface deposits
themselves, when they have been laid open, in ravines,
etc., but also by artificial borings penetrating to a
considerable depth beneath. We may quote instances
of this in a well sunk 48 1 feet deep at Fort William,
Calcutta, during the years 1834 to 1840, which passed

476 WELL-BORINGS ON THE INDIAN PLAIN.

through sand and clay all the way. * Also at Umballa,
an important cantonment on the line from Delhi to
Simla, at an altitude of 905 feet above sea-level, and
twenty miles from the base of the mountains ; a depth
of 701 feet was here attained with practically a like
result ; that is to say, the borings passed through sand,
but, in this case mostly beds of clay, f

The reader will here see the great thickness of these
apparently (according to the Encyclop. Britannicd) fresh
water beds; and the slow rate at which such are de-
posited, which (according to Mr. Richardson) does not
exceed about one foot per century, supplies a wonderful
piece of circumstantial evidence as to the great antiquity
of the earth, especially when we bear in mind that at
a still greater, but at present undetermined depth, be-
low these 'fresh water strata, we reach the tertiary rocks,
which are on the contrary full of marine remains, show-
ing that before the great lake (if there was one) the
ancient sea had rolled for uncounted ages above the
Indian plain. Now, these tertiary rocks are in all pro-
bability some thousands of feet in thickness, and they
were deposited by this sea at a rate which according to
competent geologists, little, if at all, exceeds the rate
of accumulation from fresh water deposits, § as stated
above. But inasmuch as these strata have been sub-
jected to enormous pressure, it follows that one foot
(of chalk, for instance) would represent a vastly greater

* See Mamial of the Geology of India, compiled from observations of
the Geological Survey Department, by H. B. Medlicott, Superintendent
of that department, and W. T. Blandford, F.R.S.; Calcutta, 1879.
Part i., Chap, xvii., p. 399.

•j- Ibid., Chap, xviii., p. 401. (NB. — At the pages indicated a com-
plete list of the various beds, their thickness, nature, colour, etc., are
all specifically stated).

§ See Richardson's Geology and its Associate Sciences, 2nd edit., p. 86.

FORMATION OF SEDIMENTARY STRATA. 477

amount of deposit, than one foot of recent alluvial mud.
If we said one foot of chalk represented six feet of
mud, or six centuries of deposit, it is probable that
we should rather overstate than understate the facts.

This is as far as we feel justified in carrying- the question
of the supposed origin of the great plain of Northern
India — and we must leave our readers to draw their own
conclusions from what we have stated. At the same time
we must remind them that further to the northward, in
Central Asia, there are other great plains, whose vast
extent dwarfs the size of the Indian plain entirely into
insignificance. Similar questions might arise with regard
to their formation also, but comparatively little is known
about them at the present time. They represent our
„ Region of the Great Plains " upon the Asiatic con-
tinent, and are generally known as " the steppes. "

Listen for a moment to a descriptive outline of them,
from the pen of Mr. J. G. Kohl, culled from a
translation of the second volume of his great work on
" Russia : "

" The Steppes extend " (he says) " from the borders of
Hungary to those of China. They constitute an almost un-
interrupted plain, covered in spring and summer by a luxur-
iant herbage, and in winter by drifting snows. The slight
undulations rarely seem to assume the character of hills.
The most singular characteristic is the total absence of trees.
Countless herds of cattle roam over these noble pasture
grounds, on which a calf, born at the foot of the great wall
of China, might eat its way along, till it arrived a well-fattened
ox on the banks of the Dneister, to figure at the Odessa
markets." *

* Russia, by J. G. Kohl, I Vol. 8vo., London, 1844. (N.B.— A
translated digest of 8 or 9 vols. by this author, of which vol. ii. relates
mostly to the Steppe country).

478 THE STEPPE REGION OF CENTRAL ASIA.

According to Michelet the steppes of Central Asia
have an estimated area of about 4 x/2 millions of square
miles, and are mostly elevated table-lands raised high
above the sea-level, and drained by means of ravines,
cut by the streams in time of flood. These ravines,
according to Kohl, are seldom less than from 100 to
150 feet in depth, with precipitous banks; they there-
fore form great obstructions to travel; moreover in
winter time, these places fill with the drifting snows,
and then become exceedingly dangerous to anyone
who is not intimately acquainted with the country,
men and cattle being often buried by falling into
them, and their fate only ascertained when the melt-
ing of the snows leaves their bodies exposed. * The
monotonous character of these boundless plains far
exceeds that of the Indian plain, which is almost
always adorned by clumps of fine trees and dotted
over with native farms and villages, or other objects
to attract the eye, whereas on the steppes, there is
" not a tree, not a hill, to break the monotony of the
landscape, through which a well-mounted rider may
gallop for hundreds of leagues, and scarcely see an
object to make him conscious that he has quitted the
spot from whence he started." f

When our Indian friends therefore enlarge upon the
vastness and monotony of the plains of Hindustan,
let them bear in mind that they are as nothing com-
pared with the still greater plain which occupies the
heart of Central Asia. Here the wilderness claims as
her own a mighty expanse nine or ten times as large,
upon which there is hardly a single object to attract

* Rtissia, by J. G. Kohl.
f Ibid.

WATER IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF NATURE. 479

the eye, and where the stifling heat and dust of sum-
mer alternates with the blinding snow drifts and the
rigours of an absolutely arctic winter.

The paramount influence which water has exercised
in the architecture of Nature can hardly be overesti-
mated. From the dawn of creation, its mighty operations
have never been suspended even for an instant. From
age to age it has been gradually levelling down the
mountains, excavating the valleys, spreading out the
plains and table-lands; while its march towards the
ocean is as irresistible as the forward movement of
time itself.

We have done our feeble endeavour to briefly sketch
the formation of lakes upon the upper courses of river
systems, and to show how they form natural reservoirs
for the water, which in the end overflows the basin,
and (except in those very rare instances, such as the
Dead Sea, and the Caspian Sea, where the inflow is
balanced by evaporation) finally makes its exit to
the sea.

These operations, as we believe, form the groundwork
upon which every great river system is built up — the
original form of the river course having probably been
in most cases a chain of lakes standing at different
levels and joined by streams. As time goes on, the
second stage in the process follows: the current has
now cut through the obstructions, and when that is
accomplished, the lake above is emptied, leaving a flat
alluvial plain in its place, with a river meandering
through its former bed until the water passes out through
the more or less deep gorge which has been cut through
the divide; where this has been worn through rock, a
gorge with more or less perpendicular sides probably

480 THE FORMATION OF RIVER GORGES.

remains, in the form of a canon, as a testimony to the
ages of persistent work by which this has been effected ;
if on the other hand it was through softer strata, such
as gravel or clay, slides have occurred, and masses ot
fallen stuff have been precipitated into the river. This
material the giant labourer makes short work of, and
quickly shovels it away, and removes it in the form
of sand, gravel, or mud, which it spreads over the first
convenient lowlands beneath. It is in this way that
many alluvial flats are formed. The gorge will thus
gradually have assumed the form of a valley with
sloping sides, through which the river flows. In the
Upper Mississippi and other great rivers, such a valley
will sometimes be several miles in width to the bluffs
which enclose it, through the channel having changed
its course from time to time.

The carrying power of water is as we know enormous.
In our preceding section we gave some details concern-
ing the immense blocks of granite, some of them fully
ten feet in diameter, that have been carried down for
many miles by the torrent known as the great Rangit,
which flows through the gorges of the Himalaya
Mountains of Sikkim, and bursts its way into the Indian
plains by the valley that leads down from the Darjeeling
plateau.

We must not lose sight of the fact that the weight
of every gallon of standing water is 8 Ibs. : consequently
when a heavy fluid of this density is confined within
narrow boundaries by enclosing walls of rock, and the
current is propelled by gravitation down a steep incline,
there is literally no limit to what water may not be
capable of doing.

A wonderful example of such a torrent can be seen

THE IMATRA TORRENT. 481

at Imatra in Finland, within easy reach from St.
Petersburg. It is enclosed just in this way, between
rocky walls of no great height, and the visitor can
approach without difficulty to the very edge of the
chasm; so that he can see the whole thing at his
leisure, while occupying comfortable quarters in the
excellent hotel, which has been established close at
hand, we believe by a Frenchman, from whence fine
fishing can be enjoyed in the midst of charming scenery.

Here, perhaps almost more than anywhere else, the
impression conveyed to the mind while watching the
frantic rush of the raging torrent, is that of being in the
presence of an absolutely resistless power; and in still
weather the sullen roar of its waters is audible for con-
siderable distances through the surrounding forests." *

In the case of torrents situated in ravines of great
mountain chains, such for instance as the Himalayas,
many even wilder scenes of furious waters may doubtless
be witnessed, whose dull thunder, especially by night,
resounds with awe-inspiring grandeur among the sur-
rounding hills; but access to points of vantage where
a good view of them can be had, in many cases proves
both difficult and dangerous. Many of these mighty
chasms (each one of which, it is impossible to doubt,
has been mainly or altogether excavated by the work
of water) are thousands of feet in depth; with more or
less precipitous sides, which can only be descended or
ascended by a great expenditure of physical labour,
combined very often with a certain amount of risk ;
and the heights along which the paths and other lines

* A common experiment to give an idea of the force of this torrent
is to cast an empty barrel into the stream, which is in general instantly
torn to pieces by the raging waters.

VOL. II. 31

482 DEEP HIMALAYAN GORGES.

of communication created by human agency, are generally
situated, are often so great that the eye frequently fails
to fathom their gloomy depths, and one looks down
into what appears to be a bottomless pit, when the
sun is not shining directly into them. In these cases
the only indication of the existence of the .torrent is
the noise of its waters, heard ascending from the abyss
beneath; occasionally however, wonderful views of these
great ravines are obtained, when they happen to be
brilliantly lit up by sunlight. They are then seen
extending for miles, until lost in the distance, with
precipices thrown out into brilliant relief and their slopes
generally covered from top to bottom with luxuriant
forest growths. The bottoms of these ravines are almost
always occupied by streams, and the torrent can then
be seen, apparently (and sometimes actually), a mile
or more in vertical depth below: its waters white with
foam, dashing along its rocky bed. Near Darjeeling
for instance, such a ravine may be seen, nearly seven
thousand feet deep, that is in other words upwards of
a mile and a quarter below the spectator's feet.

In our preceding section we mentioned the wonderful
gorge of the Indus near Iskardoh in Little Thibet,
where the river bursts through the western ranges of
the Himalayas, which is stated on good authority, by
several writers, to be 14,000 feet deep,* that is in
other words, but little less than 2-f miles. The sources
of the Indus, however, like those of many other great
rivers, still continue more or less a mystery, and take
their rise in unknown solitudes, in about Lat. 32° N.,
Long. 8 1 ° E., at a great altitude above sea-level. This
uncertainty with regard to the sources of great rivers

* Encyclop. Brit., gth edition, Vol. x., p. 68 (Article "River Indus''^.

THE SOURCES OF GREAT RIVERS. 483

is a remarkable fact, common to almost the whole of
them, and one which shows perhaps better than any-
thing else how large a portion of the earth's surface
is even yet occupied by the wilderness. It would be
too long to go over them all in detail ; but the obser-
vation may be said to apply to the sources of nearly
all the great rivers of Asia, Africa, South America,
and Australia; and even in North America it is only
of quite recent years, that the restless spirit of adventure
which characterizes the American people has succeeded
in fixing the approximate sources of the Mississippi,
the Missouri, the Columbia, the St. Lawrence (the head
waters thereof, beyond the lakes, that is), and those of
others of the principal streams of North America. Some
of these are even now very imperfectly known, and
their position, as marked upon the. maps, must still be
regarded merely as approximately correct.

The explanation of these curious facts is not far to
seek; the habitations of man, or of civilized man at
all events, are almost invariably for commercial con-
venience located at first near the margins of the seas ;
and as the country adjacent to the coasts becomes
occupied, the human tide rolls onwards towards the
highlands of the interior, where all great rivers take
their rise, often amid inaccessible mountains, or among
dense primeval forests or morasses. Most of the North
American and the Asiatic rivers are examples of the
former; and those of South America and Africa of
the latter class of streams; and it is from the summit
of its principal divide, or watershed, that the great rivers
of continents mostly take their rise; first as rivulets, tur-
bulent and noisy, in their infantile gambols; but eventu-
ally issuing to the ocean as swelling tides, bearing the

484 THE CARRYING POAVERS OF STREAMS.

fleets and commerce of many nations upon their broad
and ample bosom.

Here the river reaches the close of its existence ; for
like everything else on earth, rivers live and die. They
run their appointed courses, and are then finally blotted
out of existence, and absorbed in that eternity of
waters called the ocean. This last stage of their exis-
tence may be briefly told in the figurative language
of the Arab storyteller, describing the close of his
hero's career : " They departed, and went, even unto
the mercy of Allah; and they became as though they
had never been."

The carrying powers of water, by which great masses
of stone are removed for long distances, by mountain
torrents, are as we have said exceedingly remarkable ;
but the same power when exercised by an ordinary
river current along its plains track, is if possible still
more remarkable.

Vast, and altogether apparently incredible quantities
of matter, are thus continually being carried by rivers
—first from the highlands down into the plains, and
finally from the plains into the ocean. This matter
may be roughly said to consist of: (i) Boulders, or
water- worn pebbles of considerable size; — (2) Gravel,
or debris of rock reduced to smaller fragments, also
much water- worn ; - - (3) Sand, or the same reduced to
powder; (4) Mud, or silt, consisting of clay and

earthy matters, more or less held in mechanical solu-
tion by the water ; — (5) Mineral salts or organic matters,
held in chemical solution, and generally for the most
part existing in invisible form in the water.

The larger boulders are generally confined to those
portions of the river where the water runs swiftly, such

REMOVAL OF ROCKS AND GRAVEL BY STREAMS. 485

as in mountain torrents, or other places where numerous
rapids occur: very little small stuff is ever seen in the
dry channels of such streams; but water which flows
with much less velocity is still capable of moving the
smaller sizes of such stones, for it must be borne in
mind that the weight of objects, such as stones, etc.,
becomes considerably less in water than they are when
out of it, because of the much greater density of water
than of air. The supporting power of water is there-
fore infinitely greater, as the swimmer finds when he
maintains himself afloat upon its surface, much as a
bird does in the air. According to Professor Huxley,
" if a stone be twice as heavy as an equal bulk of
water, it will lose half its weight when immersed in
it. If three times as heavy, one third; if four times
as heavy, one fourth, and so on." * Then as regards
the actual power of streams in transporting such
objects from place to place, Professor Huxley lends
the weight of his authority to the statement, that a
stream flowing at the rate of 36 inches per second
{= 3600 yards an hour, 3520 yards being two miles),
" can transport pebbles as large as hen's eggs ; " " if
at 12 inches per second, it can sweep away fine
gravel, " f and " at the rate of 6 inches per second "
(= 600 yards per hour), "it has power to carry off
fine sand." § Of course, with very little current, a
stream can still bear along mud, and other matters
mingled with its waters in a state of semi-solution.

* Physiography, by Professor Huxley, F.R.S., 1887, p. 133.

7 Ibid., p. 133. — No doubt the professor here means to indicate
that pebbles of this size are moveable merely by a stream running
at this rate, and are thus rolled slowly onward by it.

§ Ibid., p. 133.

486 THE SEDIMENT OF WATER.

lastly, it is the property of standing waters to hold
in solution, without deposit, matters held in chemical
solution, as for instance, say a certain quantity of
common salt. Chemistry, however, teaches us, that
water will only take up a certain fixed quantity of
such matters. When the maximum percentage is thus
reached, it is technically said to contain a " saturated
solution," and then, the moment evaporation sets in,
so that a portion of the water is abstracted as vapour,
" precipitation " takes place : that is to say the surplus
matter falls to the bottom in the form of a sediment.
A common illustration of this is seen in the sediment
deposited on a kettle in which water has been boiled,
which very generally consists principally of carbonate
of lime; but the same result, we need hardly say, will
follow when water evaporates, after standing for a
certain length of time in a pond or lake, or in a water
jug. From the clearest drinking water lime will often be
deposited in this way upon the glass, to which it adheres
so firmly that it is sometimes very hard to remove;
and when the water contains vegetable or other organic
matter, a dark coloured sediment will be observed at
the bottom of the vessel. The reader will perhaps
pardon our going into details of this technical nature,
for as we shall proceed to show, a great deal depends
upon them, these matters being of vast importance in
the economy of Nature.

The amount of solid material carried out to sea by
a great river in the form of silt, during the course of
a single year, would hardly be credited by those who
have not made such subjects a special study. Let us
take the case of the Thames, a very minor river, with
a drainage area of only 6,000 square miles, as an

SEDIMENTARY DEPOSITS OF RIVERS. 487

instance in point. We select the Thames, because
for centuries past it has been more closely watched, and
all its phenomena have been subjected to more minute
and accurate investigation than those of perhaps any
other river. Now, the amount of sediment discharged
by the Thames, annually, is estimated at 1,865,903
cubic feet, * besides matters washed away in solution.
This process of gradually washing away large quantities
of solid matter from the land into the sea, is known as
that of ' " Denudation ; " it is a work, as we have more
than once observed, always in operation, which is
mainly carried on under two forms : " Fluviatile denuda-
tion," which is the work of rivers; and "Pluvial
denudation," which is the work of rains. The other
minor forms may at present be left out of account.
It must be obvious that these processes, thus con-
tinuously going on, must, in course of time, inevitably
tend to profoundly modify the extent and condition of
the habitable surface of the globe; and in connection
with their probable results as regards our own country,
Professor Huxley, in his work on Physiography, quotes
an opinion of Professor Geikie, to the effect that, after
taking into account, as far as possible, the whole
quantity of matter which from every cause is annually
carried into the sea from the surface of the British
Islands, the latter " has calculated that at the present
rate of denudation, it would require about five and a
half million of years to reduce them to the level of
the sea." f

But concurrently with the process of Denudation,

* Modern Denudation, by Professor A. Geikie. See transactions of
•Geological Society of Glasgow, Vol. iii., p. 153.

j .Physiography, by Professor R. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 1887, p. 149.

488 RIVER DELTAS.

or pulling down, there is also another process in con-
stant operation, namely that of building up of new
lands beneath the bed of the sea. As the general level
of the land becomes reduced, of course the bed of the
sea becomes proportionately raised by the process of
sedimentary deposit, the tendency being to create vast
marshy swamps along and in advance of the present
coast lines; many extensive areas of such lands already
exist in almost every part of the world; but it is near
the mouths of some of the great rivers that this
operation may be seen in active progress; in several
of these cases the sediment brought down by their
waters, for ages past, has accumulated, and formed
large, flat, low-lying " Deltas" at the point where they
enter the sea, so called from their resemblance in
shape to the Greek capital D or " delta," marked "A"
in that language.

The deltas of the Nile, the Ganges, and the Amazon,
form leading instances in point, large territories of this
sort having formed at the mouths of each of these
rivers. So immensely extensive is the delta at the
embouchure of the Amazon, that considerable difference
of opinion has arisen among geographers as to whether
it ought to be regarded as such at all or not; if, how-
ever, this term is to be construed as meaning, a more
or less delta-shaped alluvial flat, deposited by the river
at the point of juncture of the fresh water with the
salt, then the vastness of its size cannot ' invalidate its
title to be considered a "delta." Its shape, however,
has in this instance been considerably modified by
tributary streams and changes in the channels of these
rivers; also it evidently includes some islands, which
existed at a former epoch off this coast, and which

THE DELTA OF THE AMAZON. 489

formed a nucleus round which the alluvial lands at the
mouth of the Amazon have subsequently formed.

Of such vast size, however, is this enormous river that
it almost rather represents an arm of the sea than a river
in the ordinary acceptation of the term. Mere words
are powerless to convey an adequate conception of its
magnitude, without embarking" in panegyrics and high-
flown description which might appear to savour of
exaggeration; in every respect it is incomparably the
largest river in the world, though perhaps not the
longest; and gazing upon its mighty flood, awe-stricken
beholders have sometimes been prompted to call it
" The Mediterranean of South America. " * The
Amazon in fact, forms a species of central catchment
basin for the reception of the waters of a number of
gigantic tributaries, which flow into it from both sides;
almost all of which are themselves navigable for many
hundreds and even thousands of miles. A single
sentence will convey a better idea of the magnitude
of this mighty river system, and will probably appeal
more forcibly to the mind, than the longest verbal
description, when we say that it affords free navigation
"over not less than 30,000 miles," f almost all of
which lies within Brazilian territory.

To this we may add that the area drained by the
Amazon and its tributaries is estimated to be not
less than two and a half millions of square miles:
representing a territory more than one third the extent
of the whole surface of South America. While at its
junction with the ocean, its main mouth is "50 miles

See for instance Encyclop. Brit., gth Edit., Vol. iv., p. 221 (Article
"Brazil").

\ Encyclop* Brit., gth Edit., Vol. iv., p. 221.

4 QO THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE AMAZON.

wide, and the whole delta nearly 200 miles across,
from shore to shore." * The depth of its waters is
also very great, and " in some places exceeds 50 fa-
thoms" f (=300 feet) ; its mighty flood continually
moving steadily seawards, with swift and silent majesty,
until it mingles with the ocean — where it stains the
waters " for 600 miles from its mouth" § — the river
current being distinctly perceptible in the ocean for
more than 200 miles from the shore." **

We have endeavoured thus briefly to convey some
idea of the extent and magnitude of this great river
system, and shall now supplement it with a few words
respecting its principal tributaries. The head stream
is either the " Ucayle" or the "Maraiion," both large
rivers, and the Amazon is navigable for vessels of
the largest size up to the confluence of these rivers,
at a point some 2,200 miles from the sea. The fol-
lowing are a few of its principal tributaries, most of
them, as the reader will see, being as we have said
of enormous magnitude. From the north there are:
the Napo and the Putumayo, each about 700 miles
long; the Yapura, 1000 miles; the Rio Negro, 1400
miles ; and others of less importance. From the south :
the Madeira of nearly 2000 miles ; the Tapayos, 1200
miles; the Xingu 1300 miles; the Tocantino (an
immense river), 1200 miles; and many others, ff Many
of these rivers are very imperfectly known, and later
information seems to show that even these large
dimensions are in some cases considerably below the

* Encvclop. Brit., gth Edit., Vol. i., p. 654 (Article "Amazon").
f Ibid.

§ Brazil, the Amazon and the Coast, by Herbert H. Smith, 1880, p. 3.
** Encvclop. Brit., gth Edit.. Vol. i., p. 654 (Article "Amazon").

THE DELTA OF THE GANGES. 491

real figure. Mr. Herbert H. Smith for instance, an
intelligent American traveller and observer, states
that of the three last named rivers (which are all of
them clear water streams), the Tocantino is consid-
erably the largest in size, being " 1600 miles (in
length) by the Araguaya branch, and nearly 1500 by
what is considered as the Tocantino proper." * And
in his closing chapter on The Tributaries of the
Amazon, Mr. Smith gives a number of details, show-
ing that there are quite a number of other rivers
whose size might entitle them to be added to the
above list, did time and space permit.

Our object however is to sketch merely an outline
of the leading features of this great system, without
wearying the reader by a mass of technical details,
for which we must refer those desirous of further
information to works specially devoted to a description
of the Amazon region.

Another great river system, with a delta second in
size only to that of the Amazon, is the Ganges, which
is joined at Goalundo, near the head of this delta, by
the Brahmaputra, another immense river, coming from
the eastward to mingle its waters with those of the
sacred Ganges, before their united stream enters the
Bay of Bengal, whose billows are stained for hundreds
of square miles by its muddy waters.

One of the wildest districts in India is this great
territory of swamps and lagoons, known as the " Sun-
darbans, " which stretch along the seaward face of this
delta, between the mouths of the Hooghly and the
Megna, local names given to two of the principal streams
which issue from it.

* Brazil, the Amazon and the Coast, by Herbert H. Smith, 1 880, p. 590.

SUNDARBANS.

This immense river system is however unfortunately
split up near its mouth into an enormous number of chan-
nels, which find their exit to the sea through the mazes
of the Sundarbans, a region of swamps and fevers, pre-
senting in many places the aspect of an impenetrable
thicket, choked with masses of bamboos and other gi-
gantic reeds and grasses, mingled with bush forest.
The Sundarbans are still full of tigers and other heavy
game of every kind, which the impassable nature of
the country, and its unhealthy character, render secure
from the pursuit of sportsmen ; all sorts of curious sto-
ries are current in Calcutta as to adventures with tigers,
etc., met with by persons passing in boats along this
complicated labyrinth of streams ; a good many of which
are doubtless founded on fact, whilst others are evi-
dently exaggerations, or perhaps altogether fictitious.
Even steamers are not always respected by these ani-
mals, as Mr. G. P. Sanderson (late of the Government
" Kheddah" or Elephant-Catching establishment, a high
authority on Indian sporting matters), quotes an instance
of a tiger boarding a steamer at night, while it was
plying from Goalundo to Dakka. * It is probable that
the tiger may have been seeking rest during a long swim,
and mistook the boat for an island or rock. Mr. San-
derson however mentions having heard of other simi-
lar cases, of these animals getting into native boats,
and stories of a similar kind are common in Calcutta.

The whole of this country, extending from the sea
up to Dakka and Goalundo, is of a similar character,
consisting of vast low-lying alluvial flats, a great deal
of which is under water during the rainy season which

* Thirteen Year's among the Wild Beasts of India, by G. P.
Sanderson, 2nd edit., p. 123.

THE GANGETIC TIDES. 493

lasts from June to October, the cultivated portions of
it being then covered with crops of rice. Its very
flat nature may be perhaps better understood, when
we say that Dakka, though situated about 100 miles
from the sea, is not more than ten feet above tide
level. *

The influence of the tides therefore ascends from
the Bay of Bengal for an immense distance up coun-
try. Their vertical rise during spring tides, at Sangor
island at the mouth of the Hooghly, is 1 2 feet f and
their ebb and flow keep all the rivers throughout the
delta in a constant state of agitation, banking up the
water at one period of the day, and causing it to
race with dangerous velocity during the period of the
ebb. During the rainy season these conditions are of
course greatly intensified by the tremendous floods
which then pour down the Ganges and Brahmaputra.
The strea^n at these times comes tearing along with
uncontrollable fury, almost with the impetuosity of a
mill race, and frequently runs with a speed of eight
or nine miles per hour, so that nothing but a power-
fully engined steamboat can make head against it.

It is therefore evident that when exceptional causes
combine to create an unwonted commotion, these
restless and dangerous waters assume a most destruc-
tive character. Near Dakka, the action of the river
has played particular havoc with the coufttry, the whole
river system having here become completely changed
during the present century; and this town, once the
ancient capital of Bengal, is now cut off from the

* See Murray's Handbook for India and Ceylon, 1892, p. 268 —
Route 2oB.

j Norie's Navigation, 2 1st edit, Table Ivii., p. 856.

494 DESTRUCTIVE CURRENTS.

province by a vast body of water, difficult and often
dangerous to navigate in small craft. *

Also, at the confluence of the Brahmaputra wiih
the Ganges, near Goalundo, a point quite 140 miles
from the sea, the destructive energy of the stream has
been particularly manifested. During the rainy season
the river here forms a very large body of water
several miles across, and the influence of the tides
ascends for many miles beyond this station, which is
noted for the uncontrollable violence of its currents.
Everything that engineering skill could do to control
them has proved ineffectual; the river banks still keep
constantly changing, and everything that has been
built there has been destroyed. Goalundo Ghat, the
terminus of the East Bengal Railway, has in consequence
now no permanent buildings. Up to 1875, the
Goalundo station stood upon a massive embankment,
protected by masonry spurs running out into the river.
About ^130,000 had been spent upon these works, but
in August of that year the whole was swept away
by the flood, and deep water now covers their site.
A new terminus has since had to be constructed two
miles from the former river bank, f These facts will
give the reader some idea of the irresistible power of
the Gangetic floods and tide rips, before which the
puny efforts of man are effaced as a child rubs out
a mark made* upon a slate.

The tremendous violence and rapidity of the stream
is however not a little remarkable, when we consider
the almost dead flat nature of the country. For instance,

* Murray's Handbook for India and Ceylon, 1892, p. 267.
j Imperial Gazetteer of India, by Sir W. W. Hunter, Vol. v.,
p. no.

GANGETIC CURRENTS IN THE RAINY SEASON. 495

the average fall of the river bed of the Ganges, from
Benares to Calcutta, a distance of 66 1 miles, is only
from four to five inches per mile ; and from thence to
the sea, via the Hooghly, a further distance of 90
miles, it is only from one to two inches per mile. *

It is much the same with all the other streams that
flow through the delta; yet such is the momentum
created by the pressure of the vast head of water
pouring down from up country during the rains, that
nothing is able to withstand it. The Hooghly for
instance, near Calcutta, is said to have at times been
known to rush along with a velocity of as much as
ten, and even twelve miles an hour.

This furious current is created not only by the ebb
of the tide, but by the stupendous weight of an immense
water area, gravitating down from the interior, which
at these times more closely represents an extensive
arm of an inland sea than an ordinary river channel.
Soon after passing Barackpore, for example, which is
14 miles by river above Calcutta, the waters in the
rainy season have no visible bounds, f

Throughout their courses rivers of themselves in
fact, represent so many sections of an inclined plain,
where the current compressed between enclosing banks
on either side, is only retarded from acquiring continu-
ally increasing momentum by the consequent con-
striction of the stream, powerfully aided by the obstacles
it encounters in the convex bends of its course, which
act as so many steps in a fish ladder in creating a back
water. In this way it has been proved by repeated

* Encyclop. Brit., gth edit., Vol. x., p. 68 (Article "Ganges").
j- See Picturesque Tour in India along the Rivers Ganges and
Jiimna, by Lieut. Colonel Charles R. Forrest of H.M.'s Staff in
1, 1824, p. 129.

496 BACK-WATERS.

experiments that the back-water created by the influence
of the tides will extend up a river, for a considerable
distance beyond the actual limits of their high water
level: the water assuming, as we have said, more or
less the condition of an inclined plain; a series of
recent observations made by the French engineers
on the river Rhone, seem to have placed this
fact almost beyond question. The proverb that
"water will always find its own level," must there-
fore be received with reservations, as only true in
part. Strictly speaking for instance, the cross section
of river currents probably always assume more or less
the form of a curve, convex in the centre; and in
rapids this uprising of the water in midstream is some-
times quite visible to the eye. Then as regards the
ocean (our nearest approach to a true plane surface) —
this also as we know, visibly follows the arc of the
earth's circumference (this is something about i in 2437),
and in fact, actually does form a liquid circle engirdling
the globe. The familiar figure of ships seen at sea,
hull down below the horizon, is of course the result
of this curvature, which amounts to about 2 feet 2
inches in the mile: an object the height of a man is
thus hidden from the eye, at sea-level, at a distance
of about 2-J miles.

The immense rise of the Gangetic floods, which over-
spread a vast area of land, not only alters largely the
level of the water, but also removes those natural
impediments to the current above alluded to ; therefore,
as the level of the Bay of Bengal remains constant,
the seaward end of its course becomes transformed
into rapids of a highly dangerous character.

Thus the Hooghly, one of its principal branches,

THE HOOGHLY RIVER. 497

which as everybody knows forms the port of entry for
shipping, and upon whose banks Calcutta, the capital
of India and the seat of the Viceregal Government,
is located, is often so difficult and dangerbus of approach
for vessels, that the prudence of abandoning it altogether,
as a seaport, has for some time past been seriously
considered.

The proposal is to remove the port to Diamond
Harbour, some 30 miles further down the river, which
though still a bad port is yet better than Calcutta.

The Hooghly is not only subject to cyclones of the
most dangerous character, concerning which we shall
have more to say presently, but on account of its
shifting sands and impetuous current it can only be
navigated by daylight; great delays are thus caused
to vessels. As an instance we may state that quite
recently we were ourselves detained for nearly three
days, on board a P. & O. steamer in this way, between
the mouth of this river and Calcutta, in doing a distance
of only 90 miles. The first day we arrived off the
mouth of the Hooghly, and the tide being low, were
obliged to anchor near the lightship. Here we remained
idly floating, out of sight of land, till the afternoon of
the following day, before the tide suited to enter the
river. Want of water again obliged us to anchor for
the night at Diamond Harbour, after doing only about
four hours steaming ; and it was only on the third day
that we reached Calcutta. These details will give the
reader some idea of the serious impediments which
adverse conditions may produce at the mouth of one
of the most important river systems in the world.

The three principal obstructions to tidal rivers are:
(i) a bar; (2) a shifting channel; and (3) inadequacy of

VOL. II. 32

4QS THE IMPROVEMENT OF RIVER CHANNELS.

depth. Human ingenuity has however been successful
in many cases in greatly ameliorating the navigation
of river estuaries, by means of engineering works,
some of them being of great magnitude and carried
out at enormous cost. But upon a vast river like the
Ganges, and its branch channel the Hooghly, the puny
efforts of man are brought to naught; the tremendous
floods which frequently assume the character of a
rapid, sweep away everything in their course. The
largest ship, touching the ground, is at such times
instantly capsized, and in a few moments disappears
from view for ever. The three methods that are
usually resorted to for the improvement of rivers are:
(i) jetties; (2) training walls; and (3) dredging. In a
river like the Hooghly these expedients are of little or
no avail, large banks of shifting sand often forming
in its channel in a few hours, where there was previ-
ously deep water. With a channel thus changing
from day to day, and almost from hour to hour, great
difficulties naturally arise; and it is only by being
constantly on the river and closely watching the set
of the current and the changes which are in operation,
that a pilot can hope to bring vessels up in safety.
Even then, on rivers like the Hooghly, terrible ac-
cidents are sure to occur from time to time. In order
to give an idea of what the water can do, during flood
time, it may be of interest to mention a few of the principal
fatalities which have recently taken place on this river.
The seasons when it is most dangerous are April and
May, and again in August and September, as it is
at these times that the floods are strongest. Thus on
April 22, 1868, the "Ethel" dragged its anchor near
the James and Mary shoal, and falling foul of the

SHIPPING DISASTERS ON THE HOOGHLY. 499

" Agamemnon, " both vessels took the ground and
were rolled over by the tide; and in four hours not
a vestige of either ship was to be seen, and many of
the crews of both ships were drowned. * On August
n, 1877, the ship " County of Stirling '," carrying 1444
tons of wheat, grounded on the Falta Sand, a little
to the north of the James and Mary shoal, and was
literally turned upside down ; she disappeared in eight
minutes and five men were lost. On September 28,
1878, the steamer " Qiieen Anne" with 2400 tons of
general cargo, grounded on the Falta Sands, and
capsized in two minutes; the vessel and cargo were
a total loss, and six persons were drowned. There
were 78 persons on board, but the rest were saved
by clinging to the ship's bottom, until rescued by a
steam-tug, f On October 21, 1887, the British India
S. N. Co.'s steamer " Arcot" 1782 tons, struck while
crossing the Muckraputty Sands outside the mouth of
the Hooghly, and at once capsized, but crew and
passengers with the exception of five persons were
saved. § And again August 26, 1892, the Anchor
Line steamer " Anglia" capsized in a similar way and
fifteen of the crew were drowned. **

The circumstances connected with this last case were
particularly dreadful and created great horror in Calcutta,
where we often heard the matter discussed during our
recent visit to that city. But as the details we heard
may have been exaggerated and coloured by the excited
fancy of the people there, we forbear to repeat what
was currently reported, and shall merely quote from

* See Murray's Handbook for the Bengal Presidency, 1882, p. 83.

f See Ibid., p. 83.

§ Anmial Register for 1887 — Chronicle for October in Ibid.

** Ibid, for 1892 — Chronicle for August.

500 SAND HEAPS IN THE HOOGHLY.

the formal account of the disaster, as it was given
in the London Times. It appears that,
"the Anglia was about to anchor in the Jellingham Channel,
near the mouth of the Hooghly, and while turning to anchor,
appears to have struck upon one of the sandheaps which are
a peculiar feature of that channel, and are apt to form sud-
denly. She capsized immediately, but lay for some time on
her beam ends, with her side above water. The majority of
the officers and crew, and the only two passengers on board,
managed to scramble on to the side, and remained there
till picked up by the boats of the British India steamer Goa ;
but the engine room hands, and three sailors in the forecastle,
were unable to escape, and perished. A very painful scene
was witnessed by the survivors, etc. The three sailors who
were in the forecastle when the ship turned over, found it
impossible to escape. They put their heads through the
ports and begged for help. Every effort was made to save
them, but for want of proper tools the efforts to tear away
the iron plates were unsuccessful ; and as the hull slowly set-
tled down, the boats were obliged to put off, and leave the
unfortunate men to be drowned. Dangerous as the navigation
of the Hooghly is known to be, it is a long time since so
serious an accident has happened; but only a year ago the
British India Co.'s steamer Dunera narrowly escaped the same
fate, almost precisely at the same spot." *

Then as regards the fearful cyclones to which Calcutta
and the Gangetic delta are subject, it is well known
that the Bay of Bengal has been peculiarly subject to
them. Almost every part of its coasts has from time
to time been devastated by them, nearly every locality
having its own special tale of horror and ruin to recount.

* London Times of August 28, 1892, p. 4. [N.B. — We ought to
state that these disasters are in no wise due to faulty or careless
navigation, but to constant changes made by the stream in the ship

channel.]

GREAT CYCLONES AT CALCUTTA. 501

The historical records of India are full of such cases ,
which have been handed down from generation to
generation in the native annals.

These cyclonic storms may occur at any period of
the year, though they are rarest in February; while
they are most common in April and May, and again
in August and September: periods which are more or
less coincident with the transit of the sun in the zenith.

The destruction created by some of these storms
has at times proved truly appalling. Thus, in an article
in the Calcutta Review, No. 36, it is asserted that before
Calcutta was founded, Sangor Island, at the mouth of
the Hooghly, contained 200,000 inhabitants, who were
all swept away in 1688, in one night*

The records of the city of Calcutta itself also testify
to numerous instances of severe losses to both life and
property, inflicted upon that town by cyclones.
On October 5, 1864, for example, a great cyclone
occurred, followed by a " bore" or tidal wave in the
Hooghly, 30 feet high, which did immense damage to
the shipping and houses, f

The destruction created by this storm which extended
over a large area, seems to have been enormous
everywhere in its track; about 100 ships are said to
have been lost, and about 60,000 persons perished in
it, whole towns being nearly destroyed by it. § This
was followed on November i, 1867, by another storm,
which though not so generally destructive as that of
1864, did great damage at Calcutta and in the sur-
rounding country, about 60,000 houses being unroofed,
much small shipping lost, and the crops of Lower

* See Murray's Handbook for the Bengal Presidency, 1882, p. 83.
f Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, 1 4th edition (Article "Calcutta").
§ Ibid.

502 GREAT TIDAL WAVE ON THE BRAMAPUTRA.

Bengal destroyed. * But the appalling calamity mark-
ing the track of the great cyclone of October 31,
1876, far exceeded all previous records of damage
done, in modern times at all events. This time the
vortex of the storm seems to have passed on the
opposite or eastern side of the delta, and the heaviest
losses occurred in the country adjoining the .Megna
river, near the confluence of the Brahmaputra with the
Ganges.

"At midnight," says Sir Richard Temple, "a furious wind
drove the sea water into the estuary, thus banking up the
river for many miles." "The wind then circling round after
the manner of cyclones, brought its force to bear on the
accumulated mass of river water, driving it seawards. Thus
there was a tremendous refluence of the flood, completing
the submergence of the entire neighbourhood, and placing
hundreds of populous villages under many feet of water."
" More than 100,000 people were drowned in the darkness
of that night, and the morning broke upon districts where
the retiring waters disclosed death, ruin, and desolation." f

In some villages almost the whole population was
completely exterminated, with the exception of a few
individuals who managed to save themselves by cling-
ing to the tops of trees, etc.; and of course cattle
and other domestic animals perished almost without
exception. These brief and terrible details, which we
must endeavour to compress within the narrowest
possible limits, sufficiently prove the fearful nature of
some of these visitations in Bengal and its adjacent
seas, and show that there is probably no other region

* Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, 1 4th edition (Article "Calcutta").
f India in 1880, by Sir Richard Temple, late Lieut.-Governor of
Bombay, 1881, pp. 380 — I.

THE DELTA OF THE NILE. 503

on earth more subject to suffer from disasters conse-
quent on the conflicts of the elements.

The last of the great river deltas, which we propose
to select as a type deserving* of special notice, is that
of the Nile — the parent of Egypt.

This great historic river, inseparably connected with
the earliest annals of the human race -and already
famous when shut out from the purview of antiquarian
research in the mists of antiquity— contains so many
examples of phenomena unprecedented elsewhere, that
no survey of the world's great river systems, however
brief, could be esteemed complete without some recog-
nition of the claims of the Nile to hold a leading
place as one of the grandest of all streams ; while its
embouchure, opening as it does into the comparatively
still waters of the Mediterranean, has, as might have
been expected, formed by its sedimentary deposits one
of the most perfect specimens of a river delta at present
existing, namely that of a triangle with its base resting
on the sea, and its apex at what was probably near
the original head of the river estuary ; indeed it was
in consequence of its almost perfect resemblance in
shape to the capital D of the Greek alphabet, that the
name " Delta " was first given to it— this term being
subsequently applied by geographers to similar forma-
tions at the mouths of other rivers.

In former times the Nile discharged itself into the
sea by seven mouths; but at the present day there
are but two branches, which enter it, one at Rosetta,
on the eastern side of Aboukir Bay, and the other at
Damietta, to the west of Lake Menzaleh, through
whose eastern margin the Suez Canal was excavated,
from a point now known as "Port Said," and it is

504 THE MOUTHS OF THE NILE.

estimated that a volume of 61,500 cubic feet of water
per second is discharged by these channels into the
Mediterranean during the low water stage of the Nile. *
The Rosetta and Damietta branches separate at a small
place called Menasheh, about 12 miles by river from
Cairo, where gigantic weirs called the " Barrage " have
been constructed for irrigation purposes at an immense
cost. This point of separation forms the apex of the
delta, and here the river in ancient times used to
divide into three branches, but partly by natural changes
in the river channels, and partly by artificial engineering
works, the third or Sebennytic branch, which flowed
between the other two, has now been closed as one
of the regular mouths of the Nile. The delta of the
Nile, like all alluvial formations, is almost wholly a
dead flat country, and contains what is probably some
of the richest soil in the world; which is generally
almost black in colour. When dry, the earth resem-
bles a species of very hard clay, or pottery, and when
wet, it is of a soft adhesive nature, not unlike a piece
of black cheese. Magnificent crops of cereals, pulses,
and other productions, are raised by the Fellahin on
these lands, by whom as many as three crops are
sometimes raised on the same ground, in the course
of a single year, where water for irrigation is con-
stantly available. The black nature of the soil caused
the land of Egypt to be known among the ancients
as "Kamit," or the land of "Kam"— the "Ham" of
the Bible — signifying " The Black Land. " f Among
the Arabs the black earth, which extends a long distance
up the Nile valley, is spoken of as " El Beled" liter-

* Encyclop. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xvii., p. 504 (Art. "The Nile").,
f Murray's Handbook for Egypt, 1891, Part i, p. 13.

THE COMMERCE OF THE NILE. 505

ally " The Country," or the cultivated ground, in con-
tradistinction to the uncultivated waste, or desert country.

The port for the commerce of the Nile is, as we
know, at Alexandria, which lies some thirty miles to
the westward of the Rosetta mouth; while Damietta
is some ninety miles still further to the eastward. At
both these places are towns of considerable size, espe-
cially at Damietta; but as ports for ocean going ships
they have been completely eclipsed by Alexandria,
and are only resorted to by small vessels and fishing
boats. Goods landed at Alexandria for Cairo, or Upper
Egypt, can be conveyed either by rail, or by the
Mahmudiyeh Canal, a fine work begun by Mohammed
Ali in 1819, having an average width of about 100
feet. This canal joins the Nile at Atfeh, on the Rosetta
branch, and has a length of about 50 miles. Part of
its course is identical with the ancient Canopic channel,
\vhich once formed one of the seven branches by which
the Nile reached the sea. *

The river Nile for the last 1000 miles of its course
below the second Cataract is so well known, that it
would be needless to occupy space in these pages by
any descriptive account. We shall therefore confine
ourselves to a short general description of the famous
river as a whole. Viewed as a great river system,
it is full of interest and instruction. For ages, as
everybody is aware, the sources of the Nile remained
a mystery, though numerous attempts were made to
solve it, all of which proved unsuccessful. It was not
till 1858 that the first of the great lakes, the Victoria
Nyanza, was discovered by Captain Speke — and sub-
sequently in 1864 the Albert Nyanza by Sir Samuel

* See Murray's Handbook for Egypt, 1891, Part i., p. 137-

506 THE GREAT CENTRAL AFRICAN LAKES.

Baker. Since then numerous additions have been made
to our knowledge of these regions; but it still remains
to be proved whether or not the Nile may not flow
into these lakes by some more distant and as yet
unknown sources, farther to the southwards.

The Victoria Nyanza is situated on the equator
(which nearly bisects it) where it is crossed, by the
parallels 32° to 34° of East Longitude — and its size is
about 230 miles by 220, with a water area of 27,000
square miles. * This immense lake also lies within
the region of constant rains, and though the area of
its catchment basin has as yet never been ascertained,
it is certain that it must continually pour forth a vast
volume of water, which passes over the Murchison
Falls in about Lat. 2° 18' N., Long. 31° 50' E. Some
twenty-five miles lower down, the river enters the
Albert Nyanza, whose functions as one of the sources
of the Nile are stated by the Encyclopedia Britannia*
to be those of a great backwater, with an area of about
2,000 square miles, f At this point of its course, the
river is known by the Arabs as " Bahr-el-Gebel, " or
the River of the Mountains, and continuing its course
northwards, it is joined about Lat. 9° N. by two im-
portant tributaries, the " Bahr-el-Ghazel " or " Gazelle
River " and the " Sobat " after which it is known, as
far as Khartum, as the " Bahr-El-Abyad " or "White
Nile, " so called from its clay coloured waters, which
have a somewhat milky appearance. The length of
its course from the lakes to Khartum is about 1800
miles, and it is navigable to Gondokoro situated in
Lat. 4° 54' N. about 1420 miles above Khartum — at

* Encycl. Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. xvii., p. 504 (Art. "Nile"),
f Ibid., p. 504.

THE FORKS OF THE NILE. 507

this latter point it is joined by the " Bahr-el-Azrek, "
or " Blue Nile, " a turbid stream, thick with the fer-
tilizing mud which it carries from the Abyssinian High-
lands, where its head reservoir is said to be Lake
Tsana, a sheet of water (whose area is about 3000
square miles) which is situated in Lat. 12° S. which
parallel divides the lake into two nearly equal shares,
between Long. 37° and 37° 30' E. Its principal tri-
butaries between this point and Khartum are the Dinder
and Rahad, and it is navigable for steamers etc., as far
as Fazogle.

From Khartum, * Lat. 150 34' N., Long. 320 31' E.»
the point of junction of the White and Blue Niles,
the river flows in one undivided stream— the " Bahr-
El-Nil " or true Nile — fed only by a single affluent,
the Atbara. From the mouth of the Atbara, a distance
of more than 1800 miles to the sea, its course is nearly
the whole way through a desert region, in a great
part of which rain rarely or never falls. There are
nominally six different cataracts, marked on the maps
at different points of its course below Khartum; but
so little was the true nature of the river really known up
to the time of the British expedition of 1884-5 f°r the
relief of General Gordon, that many people supposed
until then that these were the only obstructions.

Nothing however can be further from the truth.
Briefly stated the following is the true state of the
case, which so far as we have seen is not specifically
stated elsewhere in books. The river is clear from its
mouth to Assouan, where the first Cataract bars the

* The name of this city has been spelled in several different ways
Khartoom, Khartoum and Khartum. The last form is the one adopted
in British official History of the Soudan Campaign, and approximates
more nearly to the Arabic than the other spellings.

508 THE NILE CATARACTS.

way; but is still passable by a dahabiyeh, or other
small craft, when the wind is favourable and the river
not too low : the boats being' generally dragged up
the " Bdb-es-Shelldr or "gate of the cataract," by a
strong force of Arabs, with the aid of tow ropes, etc.
The course is then clear as far as Wadi Haifa, the
present Egyptian frontier station, some five miles below
the second or Great Cataract. Here the river is a
succession of rapids of the most formidable description,
completely impassable to vessels, except when the river
is at its highest stage, for a short time in each year.
They extend through a space of several miles and are
called by the Arabs " Batn-el-Hagar " or "The Belly
of Stone." On the west bank, just below this rocky
gorge, is a high cliff called "Abusir," from whence
a magnificent view of the cataract is obtained. It is
surrounded on all sides by the drifting sands of the
Nubian desert, whose surface presents to the eye a
glowing expanse of reddish sand, broken in all, directions
by ranges of sterile waterless hills. The great river
flows below, its channel broken up into numerous streams
by a succession of rocky islands, carpeted with dwarf
bush, and grasses of the deepest emerald green. It
is impossible to conceive anything wilder, more beautiful,
or more impressive than the scene as we saw it during
our recent visit, just as the sun was sinking behind
the distant desert hills, which its declining rays were
tinting with a deep shade of rose-pink. Away towards
the south, the great river flows through regions of
which little is really known, except from the records
of the British boat expedition of 1884.

We understand that the Egyptian archives, when
searched by British officers for data for use by the

THE DESERT TRACK OF THE NILE. 509

proposed expedition, furnished but little information of
a precise or reliable nature ; and though from the maps
it appeared that there were but six principal cataracts,
officers who accompanied the boats report that be-
tween the second and third cataracts, the river is
almost constantly impeded by rocks and rapids of
more or less serious character, throughout a section of
the river upwards of 200 miles in length. From the
third to the fourth cataract, some distance above
Korti, the point where the British expedition stopped
in their ascent of the river, its course is fairly clear
of obstruction, but from the fourth to the fifth cataract,
near Berber, the whole river is again a succession of
rocks, falls and rapids. From Berber to Khartum, it
once more becomes tolerably clear, and is impeded
only by the sixth or " Shabloka " cataract, some 55
miles below Khartum, which however is of a com-
paratively mild description, as General Gordon's
steamers used to pass it in safety, except at the
lowest stage of the water. Such described, as briefly
as we can, is the course of the Nile as far as the
now celebrated city of Khartum: and it may serve
to give some idea of the length of its course to the
great lakes, if we say that roughly speaking it is
nearly 1000 miles from the sea to the head of naviga-
tion, at the second cataract; and that the traveller
there finds himself in or about half-way, by river, to
Khartum, and when he arrives at Khartum, he will
then be about half-way to the Victoria Nyanza. These
distances however the reader must be careful to
remember are merely approximate: for in fact the
real length of the great river channel has never
been surveyed, and is still but very imperfectly known,

5IO THE GREAT CARAVAN ROUTES.

though the writer in the Encyclopedia Britannica
gives it as 3370 miles; an estimate which we think,
considering its winding nature, must be considerably
below the actual length.

In consequence of these difficulties in the way of
navigation, though the river may be navigable all the
way at the very highest stage of the water, when
rocks and rapids are buried deep under stream, the
risks are so great that the usual trade routes for goods,
going to and from the Soudan, are two in number,
first via Korosko, situated in Lat. 22° 5 o' N., between
the first and second cataract, to Abu Hammed, and
Berber (a desert city, situated on the Nile bank, in
Lat. 18° N., Long. 34° E.) by camel caravan, a march
of about 380 miles through the desert — or secondly, via
Suakim on the Red Sea and thence by caravan to
Berber, a march of 275 miles also through the desert.
From Berber the boat journey is resumed, and goods
are carried via Khartum and the White Nile, as far
as Gondokoro, Lat. 4° 54' N. ; beyond Gondokoro
they are generally transported on the heads of native
porters to their destination.

Since the rebellion in 1884 both these routes are
however practically closed to commerce.

In any description of the Nile, it would be impossi-
ble to omit some notice of the inundations, which are
decidedly among the most remarkable phenomena
connected with that river. From the forks of the Nile
at Khartum to the sea, a distance not far short of
2000 miles, the river receives as we have said, but
one regular affluent, the Atbara, a large stream 400
yards wide, which joins the Nile in Lat. 17° 37' N,
about 140 miles below Khartum. Nearly the whole

THE GREAT NILE DESERTS. 5 1 1

of this great region lies within the desert or rainless
zone — where there is no regular rainy season, and
where even a shower is a rarity. Torrential rain
bursts however occasionally occur, but they only last
a short time, and months may elapse, perhaps even
years, before another drop falls. Even dews are
unknown for the greater part of the year; and as a
rule in this desert, a man may lay his gun on the
ground beside him at night without its ever rusting.

The whole country is one vast, barren, almost herb-
less des"ert of orange red sand and rock; mountain,
valley, and plain, all being tinted with this same col-
ouring; and presenting a scene of surpassing desola-
tion. As the eye ranges over the mighty expanse,
except along the very edge of the river, not a trace
of vegetation is in general observable, and in many
places Egypt is only a few yards wide — a green
streak drawn across the desert. During the spring
and early summer months, the simoom, an intensely
dry, hot wind, sweeps almost constantly across these
solitudes, carrying with it eddying columns of sand
and dust. Sir Samuel Baker met with it in 1861,
throughout nearly the whole of his desert march of
over 700 miles from Korosko via Abu Hammed,
Berber, and the Atbara, to Cassala. The holiday
tourist to Lower Egypt and Cairo, will also meet
with it, blowing from the S.E., from the latter end
of March till the middle of May. He will hear it
spoken of as the " Khamasin, " so called from blowing
at intervals during a period of 50 days. An unusual
stillness of the atmosphere generally precedes its
approach: — suddenly "the air assumes a dusky yellow
hue, from being laden with impalpable dust, through

512 CONTEST OF THE NILE WITH THE DESERT.

which the sun shines obscurely (often appearing of a
deep red colour) " and gradually becomes quite con-
cealed." * During the prevalence of the simoom such
is its peculiar dryness, that even the skin " becomes
quite dry and shrunk, and sometimes a prickly sen-
sation is felt all over the body." f

Such is the region through which the Nile flows for
this immense distance, variously stated at from 1800
to 2000 miles, in which vegetation is confined to the
immediate vicinity of its waters, or else to alluvial flats
irrigated by artificial canals. In some places the " land
of Egypt" does not extend more than ten or twenty
yards beyond the water's edge — the rest is desert. The
tourist from Assouan to Wadi Haifa will see many
such places: but below this point,

" Egypt consists properly of a single valley, upon an average
eight miles in breadth, extending from Assouan to Cairo, a little
below which the country assumes the shape of an equilateral
triangle (the Delta) the base of which rests upon the sea." §

" Egypt' (says Monsieur Mangin) is in fact the Nile : the
Nile makes, preserves, and fecundates Egypt; which without this
grand and ever famous river would immediately cease to be." **

"The world (says Miss Martineau) has seen many struggles;
but no other so pertinacious, so perdurable, and so sublime,
as the conflict of these two great powers " (the Nile and the
Desert). The river " appears to the inexperienced eye to
have no chance, with its stripling force, against the great old
Goliah, the desert; whose might has never been relaxed, from
the earliest days till now : but the giant has not conquered.

* Murray's Handbook for Egypt^ 8th Edit., 1891, p. 9. (remarks on
Climate etc.)

f Ibid.

§ Egypt & Nubia, by J. A. St. John, 1845, p. 49.

** The Desert World, by Arthur Mangin, p. 118 (translated from
the French), 1869.

THE PLAINS CHANNEL OF THE NILE. 513

Now and then, he has prevailed for a season " — "but he has
once more been driven back, and Nilus has risen up again,
to do what we see him doing in the sculptures — bind up
his water plants about the throne of Egypt." *

The plains channel of the Nile is sunk to a consider-
able depth below the general level of the country,
throughout almost its entire course. For long distances,
in Nubia, the great river flows enclosed between high
walls of rock on either side, and the desert comes
up to the very edge of the banks; lower down how-
ever, during its course through Egypt, it winds
through alluvial flats, but is still almost always
bounded by high banks of earth, rising from 15
to 20 feet or more above the water during low
Nile. The whole way from the forks of the Nile at
Khartum the river flows, as we have said, through
what is practically a rainless region; until it reaches
the delta, when it enters the region of winter rains.
It is therefore evident that except by a heavy rise in
the river, or else by means of artificial irrigation, very
little of the plain can be irrigated. Irrigation is
effected first by engineering works, such as canals,
by which water is conveyed long distances from higher
levels to the surface of the land; some of these are
of very ancient date, going back according to Aristotle,
Pliny and Strabo, as far as the time of Amenemhat
III. (about B.C. 2300), and Sesostris, or Ramses the
Great (began to reign about B.C. 1333). Irrigation
is still however mainly carried on, probably as it was
then, by the " Sakiyeh" or waterwheel, worked by
oxen, and the still more primitive " Shdduf" or pole
and bucket, worked by manual labour of the peasantry.

* Eastern Life, Past dr8 Present, by Miss Harriet Martineau, 1847.

VOL. II. 33

514 THE INUNDATIONS OF THE NILE.

To raise the water to the surface, very often from
three to four or even five separate lifts must be made
in this way, by different parties of men, each " Shdduf"
being worked by one, or sometimes by two men,
standing on platforms one above the other — a man
being able thus to throw up water to a height of
about eight feet. The water then runs along a gutter
and is distributed over the garden by a series of
furrows, which are opened and closed as occasion
requires. The process is however a very laborious
one — and were it not for the inundations and the
fertilizing mud which they bring down to manure the
ground, Egypt would quickly relapse to its original
condition of a desert.

The peculiarity of the inundation of the Nile is, that
it comes about without a drop of rain having fallen
perhaps for months previously, and under a cloudless
sky of the deepest azure; the river is at its lowest,
when without any apparent cause, it suddenly begins
to rise. This event which is of such vast importance
to the welfare of Egypt, has from the earliest times
been waited and watched for with intense anxiety by
the whole population. Its progress may be described
somewhat as follows:

The river generally begins to rise in April, on the
Blue Nile, owing to the rains which are then pouring
in the equatorial regions, where they are drained by
the great lakes; and in May the rise of the river reaches
the forks of the Nile at Khartum. The monsoonal
rains in their progress northwards begin here in June,
when the White Nile also commences to rise; and
judging from Sir Samuel Baker's account the Arabs
seem to expect the coming of the Atbara (the third

THE RISE OF THE NILE WATERS. 515

great tributary stream) towards the latter end of that
month. Some account of the sudden advent of this
flood will be found in our section on Climates and
Temperatures — where together with other similar pheno-
mena, the story of the coming of the great Atbara
is sketched from the graphic account so admirably
given by Sir S. Baker. * The rains generally come
as far north as about Lat. 17°, and thereabouts they
gradually cease; beyond that point the rainless zone
begins. At Cairo the effects of the rise in the south
is not generally felt until June, the important intelligence
of an approaching inundation being (at the present day)
immediately telegraphed from Wadi Haifa, the moment
the river begins to rise there. In Lower Egypt the
inundation occurs without rains and continues about
three months, but does not reach its highest point
until the end of September, but there is often a sud-
den and final rise in October, after which the flood
begins steadily to subside; and by the end of January
the lands it has covered begin to dry up again, and
the river is thenceforth confined to its natural channel,
gradually sinking lower and lower, until it rises again
the following year.

A rise of about from 24 to 26 feet at Cairo is con-
sidered a good average one, and the highest rise of
modern date was 2 7 feet 3 inches, f The river at this time
is some 5 miles wide opposite Cairo, and extends right
across the valley to the foot of the Pyramid range at
Gizeh. For ages all these phenomena have been

* The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, by Sir Samuel W. Baker, 1 86 1,
pp. 51 — 54. This event occurred on June 24th, when Sir S. Baker
\vas there in 1 86 1.

t See Murray's Handbook for Egypt, 1892, p. 19.

5 1 6 NILOMETERS.

closely watched by generation after generation of the-
people of Egypt, and since the beginning of the eighth
century of the Christian era there has been a regular
Nilometer at Cairo, for recording the height of these
floods ; indeed even long before that date Herodotus and
Diodorus Siculus state that several of the Pharaohs erected
Nilometers at Memphis and other places for the same
purpose. The supreme importance to Egypt of a good
inundation can hardly be realized in England ; and
such is the anxiety of the whole people to hear how
it progresses, that it is usual, during the whole period
of the rise of the Nile, to proclaim the measured in-
crease of the river daily through the streets of Cairo
by public criers, to each of whom a particular district
is allotted. *

The causes of the inundations have naturally been in all
ages a burning question in Egypt, and have given rise to
endless theories. Among the ancient Greeks for instance,
many people supposed that the waters were banked up
by the north wind, which at that season frequently
blows from the Mediterranean; others again believed
that the waters of the sea flowed up like a tide at
the time of the inundations over the land of Egypt, f

Among the Copts on the other hand it is quite an
article of belief, that on a certain night, to wit the
1 7th of June, a miraculous drop falls from heaven, and
so causes the great river to rise. This night is known
as the " Lelet-en-Nuktah, " or " the Night of the
Drop, " and was formerly observed as an important anni-
versary and one of the principal " Festivals of the Seasons, "

* See Murray's Handbook for Egypt, p. 229.

j See "Herodotus" Book ii. (Eziterpe), Sect. 20 to 22, translation
by Henry Gary, Oxford 1847. London Edition of 1891, p. 88.

THE LELET-EN-NUKTAH. 517

and it is said that even still many piously disposed
persons spend the greater part of that night on the
river bank in watching and in prayer. The next great
festival connected with the inundation is that of
the Cutting of the Canal (Y6m-wefa-el-bahr) which is
regarded as a ceremony of great importance, and
generally takes place, according to the state of the
river, about the i5th or i6th of August, accompanied
by great national rejoicings. It consists of cutting through
the dam, which closes the entrance to the canal, and
is carried out in the presence of a vast concourse
of people under the direction of the Governor of Cairo,
who arrives on the spot escorted by bodies of troops and
other attendants. This pageant is supposed to represent
the official recognition of the fulfilment of the annual
blessing, which the inundation of the Nile confers upon
the land and the people of Egypt.

The inundations of the Nile may now be regarded
as being pretty clearly ascertained, to originate first in
the great equatorial rains, which in the region of the
Central African lakes accompany and follow the
vernal equinox; these are, secondly, intensified by the
torrential rain-bursts in the zone of single rainy
seasons, and by the monsoonal rains, which follow the
passage of the sun up to the time of ^the summer
solstice.

The sun as we know, on reaching the tropic of
Cancer, about Lat. 230 28' N. on June 22, begins to
recede towards the south ; but the rains still for a time
•continue to advance, and it is generally supposed that in
July they reach as far north as about Lat. 1 7 ° — beyond
which the rainfall is as we have said, very intermittent
and uncertain, and in some years fails altogether. But

518 CAUSES OF THE INUNDATIONS.

the mighty waterfloods created by the southern rains
continue their forward course towards the ocean and
pour down along the Nile channel, charged with the
fertilizing mud of the tropical plains, to spread it over
the land of Egypt, and thus bring incalculable blessings
to remote lands and their inhabitants, in regions where
rain seldom falls.

At Cairo for instance the average annual rainfall
does not exceed about one inch, and in Upper Egypt rain
seldom falls at all; what is called a shower often
consists of only a few heavy drops, though the sky
may be black with what look like rain clouds, and
hough thunder peals with ominous vehemence.

In the equatorial regions, as we have pointed out
elsewhere, the rains are almost continuous throughout
the year. Rivers therefore which flow from thence,
flow for ever, from sources that are exhaustless; and
so, in the case of the Nile, the great river has over-
come the thirsty sands, and has continued throughout
uncounted ages to flow without ceasing through a
region comprising the greatest and driest deserts in
the world.

Sir Samuel Baker has described in graphic terms
the wonderful phenomena which accompany the
bursting of the monsoon upon the Abyssinian high-
lands:

" No one (he says) could explore these tremendous torrents,
the Stetite, Royan, Angrab, Salaam, and Atbara, without at
once comprehending their effect upon the waters of the Nile.
The magnificent chain of mountains from which they flow,
is not a simple line of abrupt sides, but the precipitous slopes
are the walls of a vast plateau, which receives a prodigious
rainfall in June, July and August, until the middle of Sep-

THE GREAT RAINS IN ABYSSINIA. 519

tember, the entire drainage of which is carried away by the
above-named channels to inundate Lower Egypt." *

We have already alluded to the tendency to sudden
and violent floods, to which the mountain courses of
streams are always subject, and the incredible rapidity
with which they sometimes rise ; this is well illustrated
by the sudden arrival (like a thief in the night) of
the mighty stream of the great river Atbara, of
which all the above-named rivers, mentioned by Sir
S. Baker, are affluents. Though we have cited it
elsewhere, as a notable instance of a sudden flood, f
it may be convenient to briefly repeat its salient features
here. On the 23rd of June 1861 the drought had
been unbroken for months; the heat was intense; the
sky unspotted by a cloud: while the fiery breath of
the simoom had desiccated the land so completely
that vegetation had apparently almost perished, and
the bed of the Atbara consisted merely of a glaring
expanse of dry sand, without one drop of water, except
in a few isolated pools.

On that night Sir Samuel Baker and, his party were
resting by the margin of the river, when a noise was
heard like distant thunder — a sound which had not
been heard for months — which came nearer and nearer.
Suddenly shouts were heard from the Arab camp, of
" El Bahr ! El Bahr ! " (the River— the River) ; there was
but barely time to escape, when the waters arrived,
and (says Sir Samuel Baker) —

"On the morning of the 24th of June I stood on the banks
of the noble Atbara river." — " In one night there was a mysteri-

* The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, by Sir Samuel W. Baker,
1867, p. 468.

j See our section on Climates and Temperatures, Vol. i, p. 98.

520 TORRENTIAL RAINFALLS.

ous change " — "dust and desolation yesterday, to-day, a mag-
nificent stream, some 500 yards in width, and from 15 to 20
feet in depth, flowed through the dreary desert." *

By the third of July the rains themselves had arrived,
and came down in torrents, in the way usual after the
bursting of the monsoon. These rains, at first inter-
mittent, towards the middle of the month became
more constant. All the dry stream beds were now
converted into rapid torrents which rushed towards
the main stream with impetuous velocity, to swell its
already formidable tide ; " banks of earth (says Sir S.
Baker) became loosened and fell in, and the rush of
mud and water upon all sides, swept forward with a
violence which threatened the destruction of the country,
could such a tempest endure for a few days." f

We shall add a short sketch of one of these storms,
extracted from the deeply interesting account given
by Sir S. Baker, as it may serve to give those of our
readers who may never have visited tropical regions
some idea of the violence of meteorological phenomena
which annually recur in these localities.

"We shortly halted for the night (he says), as I had noticed
unmistakeable signs of an approaching storm." — "There was
no time to prepare food; the thunder already roared above
us, and in a few minutes the sky, lately so clear, was as
black as ink." — "A rain descended, with an accompaniment
of thunder and lightning, of a volume unknown to the in-
habitants of cooler climates; for several hours there was an
almost uninterrupted roar of the most deafening peals, with
lightning so vivid, that our tent was completely lighted

* The Nile Tribiitaries of Abyssinia, by Sir S. Baker, 1867, pp.
51 to 53.

f Ibid., p. 92.

A GREAT SOUDAN RAIN STORM. 521

up. Being as wet as I could be, I resolved to enjoy the scene
outside ; it was curious in the extreme. . Flash after flash of
sharp-forked lightning played upon the surface of a boundless
lake; there was not a foot of land visible, but the numerous
dark bushes projecting from the surface destroyed the illusion
of depth that the scene would otherwise have suggested.
The rain ceased, but the entire country was flooded several
inches deep, and when the more distant lightning flashed
as the storm rolled away, I saw the camels lying like statues
built into the lake." *

The rush of all this water, everywhere pouring over
a vast extent of country, and all hurrying towards
the Nile, gives us some insight into the wonderful
water supplying capacity of this mighty river system,
and the reader will probably cease to wonder that
notwithstanding any amount of evaporation which may
occur in Nubia and Upper Egypt, enough water is
still carried down to be the parent of the great in-
undations which annually cover the Nile valley and
the delta of Lower Egypt with its turbid but fertilizing
flood.

Leaving now the historic region of the Nile, we
pass to the consideration of another great river system
of a different type, but which of its kind is certainly
one of the most remarkable of all streams.

We refer to the River Indus, f whose frowning rocky
gorges and impetuous flood at present constitute a
leading factor, as a line of defence, upon the north
western frontier of our Indian Empire.

* The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, by Sir Samuel W. Baker,
1867, p. 105 — 6.

j "Indus" — in Sanskrit Sindhu. (Whence doubtless the territory of
Sindh takes its name.)

522 THE INDUS RIVER.

The Nile, as we have seen, is an example of a
great river ordinarily fed by the downpour of the
tropical rains. The Indus on the other hand, is
primarily dependent for its water-supply upon the
melting' of the eternal snows, which have accu-
mulated upon the elevated plateaux and peaks of the
Himalayas.

In our section on " Great Mountain Ranges" we
have described as clearly as we could the laws which
(so far as present knowledge extends) appear to govern
the winter snowfall there. Like almost all great rivers
proceeding from such sources, the Indus takes its rise
at an immense elevation — in " The Abode of Snow,"
as the translation of the native name of Himalaya
implies. * The locality lies in about Lat. 3 2 ° N. and
Long. 81° E. on the northern slopes of the sacred
Kailas mountain, not far from the sources of the
Sutlej, another great river, which subsequently unites
its waters with those of the Indus.

The drainage area of the Indus is estimated at
372,000 square miles, and its total length at a little
over 1800 miles, f It will thus be seen that it is by
no means the longest river in the world; it cannot
compare for instance in this respect with the Mississippi,
whose length is quite 2500 miles; or with the still
greater length of the Mississippi-Missouri system whose
length amounts to some 4000 miles. Nevertheless as a
mighty torrent, thundering with indescribable violence
through precipitous ravines, and eating its way by the
attrition of its swiftly flowing waters through wild rock-
cut gorges of enormous depth, the phenomena which

* From the Sanskrit " Hima" — snow, and Aldyd — abode.

-j- Encycl. Brit., 9th Edition, Vol. x., p. 68. (Article "Indus.")

THE BASIN OF THE INDUS. 523

mark the track of the Indus river are probably else-
where unexampled.

The wonderful gorge, near Iskardoh, in Little Thibet,
where the river bursts through the western ranges of
the Himalayas, which we have already described in
our chapter on mountains, is certainly the most marvellous
instance of the almost omnipotent power of running
water which is to be found in any part of the world.
But this is only one of a succession of mighty canons,
which this river has excavated throughout its mountain
track. For nearly the whole of its upper course it
winds at intervals through similar, though less gigantic
cuttings, which constitute some of the grandest pieces
of mountain scenery in the world. The course of the
torrent is here subject to tremendous floods, which at
times seem about to sweep everything before them —
while at other moments, even in summer, the stream
is said to dwindle down to a fordable depth during
the night; but during the day it again swells into an
impassable torrent, from the melting of the snows on
the mountain tops. This character the river retains
until it enters the Panjab, near Derbend, in Lat. 34°
25' N., Long. 72° 57/ E., where it is a swift stream
about 100 yards wide, and of no great depth, flowing
through an irregular channel studded with sandbanks
and islands. During the cold weather it is at times
fordable here in many places, but its uncertain and
dangerous character, its liability to sudden floods and
freshets, still continues. It was thus that the celebrated
Ranjit Singh for instance, while crossing this river
in one of his forays against the mountain state of
Kashmir, about 1823, is stated as we have already
mentioned elsewhere, to have lost a force variously

524 SUDDEN FLOODS ON THE UPPER INDUS.

estimated at from 1200 to 7000 horsemen, swept away
by the sudden coming down of a flood. *

These tremendous inundations, which are liable to
occur at any moment, and which never can be foreseen
or guarded against, together with the inaccessible
nature of a great portion of its banks, (which for hundreds
of miles consist of lofty and precipitous cliffs), render
this river in the highest degree valuable as a line of
defence, from a military point of view. Owing to its
turbulent character, boats cannot in general be used
upon its upper waters; and the usual native way of
transportation to and fro, from time immemorial, has
been by means of a " Massak " or inflated skin,
when the river had to be crossed during the period of
high water. For a great part of its course also, for
the same reason, this river cannot be bridged, except
at a few points, and then only by enormously solid
and expensive works of engineering skill.

One of these places is the celebrated Attock
Bridge, just below where the Indus, at a point about
870 miles from its source, receives the Kabul River,
which brings down with it the waters of Afghanistan,
in another swift stream of about the same volume
and character as the Indus, at their point of junction.
Attock in the Rawal-Pindi district, in Lat. 33° 53' 15" N.,
Long. 72° 1 6' 44' E., f is the first point of great
importance upon the Upper Indus, in British territory ;
it was here where in former days the main trunk
road to Peshawar crossed the river upon a bridge of
boats; which was however always most insecure, and

* The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by Sir W. W. Hunter, Vol.
vii., p. ii. (Article "Indus River").

f Ibid., Vol. i., p. 381 (Article "Attock").

THE INDUS AT ATTOCK. 525

difficult to maintain. The normal velocity of the current
at Attock is from 5 to 7 miles an hour in the cold
season; but during floods the Indus here presents a
wild scene of confusion of waters, which at such times
rush with fearful violence through the rocky gorge
with a sound like that of a troubled sea, and at a speed
of some 13 or 14 miles an hour.

A tremendous whirlpool is thus created, which often
used to sweep everything before it, frequently com-
pelling the removal of the floating bridge to avert
its destruction. Communications then had to be kept
up in cas'e of necessity, at great risk, by means of a
ferry boat, or a raft constructed of inflated skins, in
the manner already described.

This has however all been changed by the opening
(in May 1883), of an iron girder bridge, by the North
Western Railway of India, which now carries both
the railway and the road, across the Indus, high above
the reach of floods: its construction was one of the
most costly and difficult works on the line. Very
striking and impressive is the panorama, as the train
passes over this historic gorge, which is justly ac-
counted one of the most picturesque spots in India.

The waves of the great river, here confined within
a very narrow channel, foam and boil at an immense
depth beneath : to the right is seen the ancient fortress,
of Attock constructed by the Emperor Akbar about
1583. It is situated on a commanding height, and
presents a most imposing appearance ; while the distant
country opens up a prospect of wild and rocky sterility,
the very type of stern and rugged grandeur. The height
of the river is here 2078 feet above sea-level, it having
descended from the immense elevation of about 17,000

526 THE INDUS DEBOUCHING INTO THE PLAIN.

feet at its source, with an average fall of something
over 1 6 feet per mile, during a course of some 870
miles consisting of an almost constantly rugged channel,
full of rocks and rapids. Thus the very name of
" Attock " is said to be derived from a Sanskrit word,
signifying "a prohibition" — or "a hindrance," and an
ancient law of the Hindu religion forbade the faithful
to cross the Indus, * though in modern times the rule
has become more honoured in the breach than the
observance, and has for many years past been in
abeyance.

The tremendous nature of the floods on the Indus
may be well illustrated by an instance of one which
occurred at Attock on the loth of August 1838. When
the water in the evening stood 90 feet higher than
in the morning" f

This gives a good idea of the difficulty of maintain-
ing communications across such a river, which for a
further distance of 105 miles, as far as Kalabagh,
still preserves the same dangerous character, and
continues enclosed for a great part of the way between
high perpendicular cliffs. It is at Kalabagh, in Lat. 320
57' N., Long. 710 36' E., § situated in a gorge of
the great salt range, where the river at length rushes
forth into the plain, and debouches into a level country ;
and from this point to the sea, a distance about 872
miles, it is navigable for flat-bottomed steamers. **

* See A Year in the Panjab, by Major Herbert B. Edwardes, 1851,
Vol. i, p. 92.

y The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by Sir W. "W. Hunter, Vol.
vii., p. 15. (Article "The Indus River").

§ Cvclopcedia of India, by Surgeon-General Edward Balfour, Vol.
ii., p. 341.

** The Land of the Five Rivers dr5 Sindh, by David Ross, C.I.E.,
4883., p. 37.

ANCIENT INVASIONS OF INDIA. 527

We have been careful to mention these numerous
technical details, because of the importance of the Indus
as a line of defence to North Western India — an invader
entering the British Empire in this direction being always
liable (should he succeed in crossing the river) to be cut
off from his line of communication, without warning and
for an indefinite period of time, by a sudden flood.
Nevertheless the neighbourhood of Attock, and down
towards Kalabagh, " has seen the passage of every
conqueror who has invaded India from the north
west, from the time of Alexander the Great down-
wards." *

This is quite true: and that being so, perhaps we
shall be pardoned if we venture upon a short digres-
sion, upon a point of great military and historical in-
terest (which has been much debated of late years,
and has given rise to many differences of opinion) in
order to put the matter in what we conceive to be its
proper light before the reader. We desire however
to premise our remarks on this subject by stating that
it is an axiom of military science that rivers as a rule make a
bad frontier, strategically speaking, being incapable of
stopping the advance of a well-led and energetic enemy.
There is however no rule without an exception; and
we have here to deal with a river of very exceptional
character.

The principal invasions of India by foreign conquerors
from the north west were three in number. First by
Alexander the Great, who entered India early in B.C. 327.
He crossed the Indus above Attock, and advanced

* Murray's Handbook for India & Ceylon, 1892, Route 13,
p. 210.

528 SACK OF DELHI BY NADIR SHAH.

without a struggle to the Jhelum. * Secondly, by
Timur (or Tamerlane, as he is sometimes called) who
invaded India A.D. 1398, and who also encountered
but little resistance, f There is some uncertainty as to
the exact point where he crossed the Indus; a writer
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica states that it was at,
or near, Attock, § but the late Surgeon-General Balfour
(a learned writer on Indian matters) thinks that it
was a place named " Nil-ah " near Kalabagh, where
some remains of the ancient town are still visible. **
Thirdly, the last invasion was that led by Nadir Shah,
a Persian, in 1739. He also crossed the Indus some-
where near Attock, but met with no resistance till
he got near Delhi, f f Now Delhi to Lahore by rail
is a distance of 348 miles, and from thence to Attock
by the North Western Railway is a further distance of
252 miles, making a total of just 600 miles. §§ The
appalling scenes which occurred in the sacking
of Delhi by this conqueror are still a matter of tra-
dition among the Indian people. On the loth of
March in that year, a garrison placed in the city by
Nadir Shah was almost entirely put to the sword by
the people ; and the next day the conqueror, whose
main army was encamped not far off, gave orders for
a general massacre, and from sunrise till midday the
city presented a scene of carnage which has seldom
been equalled ; fire which had been set to the houses,

* Encycl. Brit., Qth Edit., Vol. xii., p. 786 -(Art. "India").

f Ibid., p. 793.

§ Ibid., Vol. Hi., p. 62. (Article "Attock").

** See Cyclopedia of India, by Surgeon-General Edwd. Balfour, Vol.
ii., p. 341.

ft See Historv of the British Empire in India, by Edward Thornton,
Vol. i., pp. 68 — 9.

§§ See Newman's Indian Bradshaw (Published at Calcutta monthly).

ANCIENT INVASIONS PRACTICALLY UNOPPOSED. 529

spread to almost every quarter of the city. On this
fatal day a vast multitude of persons perished, and
the conqueror, when leaving Delhi, carried off immense
treasures estimated at from 30 to 70 millions of pounds
sterling; and among other things the famous Peacock
Throne, encrusted with precious stones and gems of
enormous value. He also seized and carried off the great
Koh-i-Nur diamond, which is at present numbered among
the crown jewels of England. *

The reader will see from the foregoing details that
these invasions of India, via the Indus, were all really
unopposed, and that being so, it is impossible to quote
them as having any real bearing upon the supposed
strength, or weakness, of the River Indus Frontier —
the question being whether these invaders could have
forced the passage of the Indus in the teeth of an
organized opposition. This may therefore still be re-
garded as at least an open question.

In an interview with a representative of a London
daily paper General Lord Chelmsford was strongly
of opinion that the line of the Indus, held by a
British Indian Army, with suitable advanced posts, was
exceedingly strong, indeed well-nigh impregnable, f The
matter had been recently brought to the front by a
magazine article headed " India Between Two Fires, " §

* See Murray's Handbook for India dr3 Ceylon, 1892, p. 131. This
celebrated diamond called the Koh-i-Nur or "Mountain of Light," was
found in the mines of Golconda in 1550. It was surrendered to England
after the conquest of Scinde, in 1849; it then weighed 279 carats, and
was valued at ^2,000,000; it has since been recut, by Dutch artists,
for the Queen, and now weighs 100^ carats, and possesses a greatly in-
creased brilliancy. See Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (article "Diamonds. ")

f See The Pall Mall Gazette of Aug. 24, 1893 — (Article on The
Defence of India against Russian Invasion.]

§ See The XlXth Centtiry Review for Aug. 1893, p. 183. (Article,
India Between Two Fires, by the Hon. George Curzon, M.P.)

VOL. II. 34

530 MILITARY STRENGTH OF THE INDUS FRONTIER.

which took a very unfavourable view of our In-
dian frontier question, " should the Russians be
permitted to advance to the Hindu Kush, either north
of Cabul, or south of Waklan" — and it asserted that " to
talk about the Indus valley now (as a line of defence)
is to be 13 years behind the time." In the course of
a discussion by letters in the • Times and other news-
papers, however, Lord Chelmsford (who no doubt had
had under his consideration all that had been said on the
other side, in the newspaper controversy then going on)
makes the following rejoinder:

" No period of time can alter the natural strength of the
Indus Valley frontier. With the advanced posts of Quetta
and Peshawar, giving us the command of both flanks of the
Indus, and with a belt of most difficult country 200 miles
broad, between the natural border of Afghanistan and the
unfordable Indus River, which can only be bridged with the
greatest difficulty during 6 months of the year ; India possesses
a defensible frontier of extraordinary strength" — and (His
Lordship concludes with these words,) " I am strongly of
opinion that the natural difficulties of our North West frontier,
which can be so enormously increased by artificial means,
are quite sufficient to secure India from any successful attempt
at invasion." *

This is a highly important matter ; we shall therefore
quote the opinion of another most distinguished general
officer on the same subject. In a letter to the Times ^
General Sir John Adye has also expressed wrhat is
practically a similar view of this case, and says,

"our North West frontier from its natural difficulties is
very safe and almost impregnable." " His (Mr. C's) views
on the supposed danger of India are exaggerated and unsound.

* Extracts from letter in the London Times of Aug. 21, 1893, p. 4,
signed "Chelmsford, General."

THE NORTHERN DEFENCES. 531

We are the great rising power in the East; and the main
lines of our policy should be to govern India well, and
maintain friendship with the Chinese." *

The "second fire," to which allusion was made, was
to France in Siam. Our naval friends would probably
have a word to say on that. As long as Britain holds
command of the seas, France can do nothing against
us in India. She would have more to fear from us
than we from her. But the greatest interest of both
countries is peace. Also, as long as England is supreme
at sea the British line of communication will be far
shorter, safer and easier, than that of any invader coming
from Central Asia. " It is not in the Indus itself (says
Colonel Hanna) that I see India's true scientific frontier,
but in the combination of that great river with a waterless
desert, and a deep and rugged mountain chain, "f

The inspection of a good large scale map will however
put this more clearly before those who desire to know
the exact value of the difficulties in the way of an
invader. It will be observed that all rivers of any
considerable size join the Indus upon its eastern side,
whereas the small streams marked upon its western
bank where they are not mountain torrents, are mostly
dry nullahs or ravines, which are seldom threaded by
streams except during the rainy season. Then again
as regards the mountain regions, there are no roads
through them, except that via the Khyber Pass, that
are passable for any kind of wheeled vehicle, and
Colonel Hanna, in the same letter quoted from above,

* Letter controverting Mr. Curzon's views, by General Sir John Adye
to the Times of Aug. I", 1893, p. 7.

•j* Letter in The Broad Arrow, (military paper) of Nov. 20, 1895,
signed H. B. Hanna — in reply to criticisms on his book India's
Scientific Frontier.

532 THE PLAINS TRACK OF THE INDUS.

proceeds to show the enormous difficulties which an
army would meet with in attempting to pass them, by
quoting the opinion of the late General Sir Edward
Hamley, as follows:

" Accustomed as we are to see the mountain chains of
Europe successfully crossed by great armies (said that eminent
strategist in 1878) we must remember how different in depth
are the ranges of the hills of Afghanistan. In a couple of
marches the Russians were through the Bohemian mountains.
But here, the shortest pass through the barrier between Cabul
and the Indian Valley is 190 miles; the Gumal nearly 300
miles, and not days but weeks are occupied in the isolated,
march." *

This is as far as we propose to carry this subject.
We shall now shortly sketch the plains track of
the Indus from Kalabagh to the sea. This section
of the river, of about 872 miles, is navigable for light-
draught steamers. It is however possible to descend
the river from Attock by a native boat, a thing which
is still sometimes done, as the trip takes the traveller
through much fine scenery; though the journey is rather
a rough one. It occupies about five days to descend
from Attock to Dera-Ismail-Khan, f a distance of about
195 miles. At Kalabagh, where as we have said the
Indus debouches from the great salt range into the
plains country, the river has descended to a point just
under 900 feet over sea-level. The current is still
very swift, but the stream which has hitherto been
pent up for a great part of its course, between preci-
pices and high banks, now assumes a much wider

* Letter in The Broad Arrow, (military paper) of Nov. 23, 1895,
signed H. B. Hanna — in reply to criticisms on his book India's Scien-
tific Frontier.

f It is near this point where the Gumal Pass mentioned by General
Sir E. Hamley debouches to the westward of the river.

THE LOWER INDUS IN FLOOD-TIME. 533

Character, with shifting channels winding among sand-
banks and islands, through a flat country. The Scinde
Sagar loop of the North Western railway follows the
course of the river all the way down to Dera-Ghazi-
Khan at a distance varying" from about five to ten
miles from its bank, where it can keep clear of danger
from floods; the stream is in this part of its course
obstructed by many sandbanks, and the river bed is
often many miles wide.

Thus at Dera-Ghazi-Khan, the Indus at low water
is only about a quarter of a mile wide, in the hot
season, but after great rains its floods extend over an
enormous area, and the river " at this point becomes
1 8 miles wide and takes 1 2 hours, and not infrequently
1 8 to 24 hours, to cross." * So says Dr. Clark a
resident physician at Amritsar (Punjab) according to
whom, during the last great flood in 1889, the river
in one portion of its course "inundated close upon 700
square miles of country." f As these floods subside
vast lagoons of stagnant water are left in low lying
situations, and as these begin to dry up, some four or
five months afterwards, malarial disease becomes very
rife. Malarial fever of malignant type, in fact, some-
times assumes the form, according to Dr. Clark, of a
regular pestilence on such occasions, hardly anybody
escaping an attack.

Proceeding down the course of the river about
78 miles below Dera-Ghazi-Khan we reach one of
the most important points on the Indus, namely its
junction with " the five rivers " at a point about 490

* Remarks on Malaria and Acclimatization, by Dr. H. M. Clark,
of Amritsar, in paper read April 1892 in Royal Scottish Geographical
Magazine for June 1893, Vol. ix., part 6,. p. 284.

f Ibid., p. 284..

534 THE LAND OF THE FIVE RIVERS.

miles from the sea and a few miles above the town
of Mithankol; these rivers all come from the Punjab
to the eastward.

The Punjab or " Panj-ab " is literally in Hindustani,
"the land of the Five Rivers,"* because the country
between the Indus to the Jumna is drained by five
great rivers, the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the
Beas, and the Sutlej. The three first named unite,
forming the Chenab system ; and the Beas is an affluent
of the Sutlej ; the Chenab and Sutlej subsequently meet
at a point about forty-six miles from their junction
with the Indus, the united streams from thence to where
they fall into the Indus being known as the " Panjnad "
(lit. — the five rivers). The mighty river Indus after
absorbing their waters still rolls on for the remainder
of its course to the ocean through a dry and almost
desert country, where the rainfall is scarce and un-
certain. The plains of Scinde during the hot season
appear to the eye to be one vast dead level sandy
flat, studded with tracts of arborescent grasses and jungle,
over which the inundations of the Indus frequently
extend for miles, on either side of its natural channel.
The description of Scin-de and its great river the Indus,
given in the letters and journals of the celebrated
Indian General Sir Charles Napier, is full of interest
and instruction, and numerous extracts from their most
striking passages are given in the Life of Sir C. Napier,
written by his brother Sir William, f another distin-
guished officer, best known to the world as the Historian
of the Peninsular War.

* Encycl. Britannica, 9th Edition, Vol. xii., p. 847. (Article "The
Punjab").

•j- Life of General Sir Charles James Napier, by Lieutenant General
Sir William Napier, 1857, 4 vols. 8vo.

SIR CHARLES NAPIER ON THE INDUS FLOODS. 535

Sir Charles Napier, as all the world knows, was the
conqueror of Scinde (1842 to 1846) and perforce, no
man studied the vagaries of the great river with keener
attention than he did, for it formed his principal line
of communications, and the swelling of its waters, or
the imminent fear that they would suddenly rise, often
set his best-laid plans at naught.

The Indus is an autocrat whose colossal power, even
in its calmer lower reaches, is such that the most
enterprising leader dare not attempt to oppose it.

The sun and the desert on one side, and the river on
the other are apt to set at defiance the puny efforts
of man.

"Here (says Sir C. Napier, writing on March 3Oth 1843)
I am between Scylla and Charybdis ; to the east impeded by
want of water, on the west in dread of inundation. I cannot
besiege (Omercote) as the river would be upon me, forming
a mighty sea between me and Hyderabad (as people say),
probably all exaggerated, but enough to destroy my guns
and baggage." * — "April i. Just heard by express that the
waters are rising with fearful rapidity. I must recall the
troops, and leave Omercote for next season; this is bad; it
will be a rallying point for all our enemies in Scinde, and
another army will rise; but I cannot stand against the Indus." f

Its unbridgeable character (except by very great
and costly structures like a vast girder bridge of iron)
is well illustrated by what has been already stated
about its floods and the following extracts —

" The obstacles to any but a floating bridge (says Sir Chas.
Napier) are insuperable; we must trust to boats, and build
a fort as a 'tete de pont' at Kotree, opposite Hyderabad;

* Life of General Sir Chas. J. Napier, by Lt.-Genl. Sir W. Napier,
Vol. ii., p. 353.

•j- Ibid., Vol. ii., p. 354.

536 FALLING BANKS.

it has fallen in once, undermined by the river, though 200
yards from the bank; in one day 100 yards went down, on
a strip along the bank of perhaps a mile." — "The old Indus
is a devil when he takes a freak into his head." — "A line
of battleships may be floating in midstream at breakfast, and
you may dine on the same spot, the same day, on dry land !
All these things are great difficulties." *

At Hyderabad, where Sir C. Napier was when he
wrote thus, the river is very wide and swift, the flood
sweeping down at a rate "of 4 to 5 knots an hour"
according to the estimate of his steamboat captains,
and the breadth of the current was " from 600 yards
to 6 miles. The stream however eternally changes in
depth, in breadth, and even in course." The banks
average from 4 or 5 to 20 feet in height on one side
of the river, along this part of its course, and where-
ever the stream sets against them they are con-
tinually falling away: the opposite side is generally
a dead flat. " The banks fall in fast" (says Sir Charles)
" hundreds of tons have done so as we passed. " f

These extracts give in brief about as clear an idea
of this wonderful river as could well be conveyed in
a few sentences. From Hyderabad to the sea, a
distance of about 1 1 o miles, its character continues
much the same, and it flows all the way through a
monotonous expanse of perfectly flat country. Sir
Charles Napier, however, considers this country " very
difficult for war ; a dead flat yet without a view : banks
of 'nullahs' and jungles entirely intercept sight." §
The Beloochees, he explains, used to hide in these

* Life of General Sir Chas. Napier, by Lt.-Genl. Sir W. Napier,
Vol. iii., p. 146.

•\lbid., Vol. ii., pp. 199 & 200.
§ Ibid., 1857, Vol. ii., p. 362.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST OF SCINDE. 537

places, and let fly with their matchlocks whenever
anyone appeared.

The fact is, it was impossible to march very far
beside the river without being* stopped by one of these
* nullahs' or ravines, which intersect the country for
miles in every direction and were generally masked
by bushes and not seen till the men were close upon
them. These of course formed admirable hiding-
places for enemies, and also serious obstructions to
guns and baggage, rendering marches very slow and
fatiguing. At the battles of Miani and Dabo (fought
by Sir Charles Napier against the Beloochees in 1843)
such nullahs were upon both occasions strongly occupied
by the enemy, and formed the key of their positions.
At the battle of Dabo especially, the General says,
"his (the enemy's) position was nearly a straight line; the
nullah was formed by two deep parallel ditches, one 20 ft.
wide and 8 ft. deep, and the other 42 ft. wide and 17 ft. deep,
which had been for a long distance freshly scarped and a
banquette made behind the bank, expressly for the occasion." *

"The ever glorious 22nd Regiment" as Sir Charles
Napier called them (now the Cheshire Regiment), bore
the brunt of the fighting on both these actions, and
met with heavy losses in storming these places.

The Indus near its embouchure, like most great
rivers, has formed an extensive delta, through which
it debouches by a number of channels, none of which
unfortunately are navigable for sea-going ships; the
port of Scinde has therefore always been at Karachi,
situated in Lat. 24° 50' 30" N., Long. 66° 58' i2"E.,f
near the western end of the delta.

* Despatches of Sir Chas. Napier after the battle of Dabo, March
24th, 1843.

f Norie's Navigation, 2 1st Edition. Table Ivi., p. 312.

THE RIVERS OF AMERICA.

Previous to the British occupation of Scinde, Karachi
was a mere fort; since then it has flourished greatly
and is now the chief town in Scinde, with a sea-borne
trade whose annual value exceeds ^4,000,000 sterling.

Hitherto we have said very little about the great
rivers of America, whose enormous importance in the
trade of the world is every year increasing. " In no
single circumstance," says the Encyclopedia Britannica,
" is the superiority of America over the Old World so
conspicuous as in the numbers and magnitude of its
navigable rivers," which "not only surpass those of
the Old World in length and volume, but are so
placed as to penetrate everywhere to the heart of the
continent. "

Of the great Amazon system we have already given
a short account. It is supposed that that mighty stream
alone discharges a greater quantity of water than the
eight principal rivers of Asia. The La Plata, another
great river of South America, is asserted by the same
authority to claim a probable superiority over the col-
lective waters of Africa. Personally we are inclined
to doubt this fact, nevertheless the La Plata, as we have
ourselves good reason to remember, is a very great
river, draining an area of some 1,200,000 square miles,
and furnishing with its various affluents a length of
about 20,000 miles of navigable waters. * The Orinoco,
though much inferior in size to these gigantic river
systems, is also a very large river, draining an area
of at least 400,000 square miles, and said to include
navigable waters 8,000 miles in length. The head waters
of all these river systems arise in unknown or at any

* EncycL Brit., Qth Edition, Vol. i., p. 674 — 675 (Art. " America").

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 539

rate very little known wilds, in the heart of the South
American continent.

Turning now to North America the Mississippi (lit-
erally in the original Indian language of the country
" The Father of Waters ") may justly be considered to
constitute " a mighty source of wealth and strength to
the United States." * According to The Scientific
American, the Mississippi has no less than

"600 affluents, and a drainage area of 1,257,545 square
miles. The traveller can sail from Pittsburg (on the Ohio)
4,300 miles, to Fort Benton, Montana, (on the Missouri), and
from Minneapolis 2,200, to Port Eads on the Gulf of Mexico.
Should he extend his voyage to the head of navigation upon
its 45 navigable tributaries, his journey would extend 16,000
miles, through 23 States and Territories of the (United States)
Union." f

This however does not include a vast extent of
canoe and boat navigation, upon the head waters of
these rivers and other smaller streams, which are com-
puted by the Encyclopedia Britannica to jointly amount
to a mileage of no less than 35,000 miles. § There
has been an unfortunate error made by the early geo-
graphers of America, as we conceive, in mistaking
the course of the present Mississippi beyond its con-
fluence with the Missouri, as that of the main river. We
humbly venture to think that the real " Father of
Waters " is the Mississippi-Missouri, which gives a
clear navigable channel from the Gulf of Mexico of
about 1226 miles to the mouth of the Missouri, and

* The Influence of Sea Power on History, by Capt. A. T. Mahan,
U.S.N., 1890, p. 36.

j Scientific American of August 5, 1893.

§ Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. i., p. 675 (Art. "America").

540 THE MISSOURI RIVER.

2679 miles further to the head of navigation at the
falls of the Missouri River, a short distance above
Fort Benton, or a total distance of 3905 miles. It
would have been better in such case to have called
the present Upper Mississippi, after passing the Mis-
souri, by some other name. In the first place, the
whole character of the Mississippi below that point is
governed by the Missouri, which at the junction of
the two rivers, is much the larger stream of the two,
the Missouri being a huge tawny flood of very muddy
water, while the Upper Mississippi is a clear water
river (which, by the bye, is a comparatively rare thing
in America, nearly all the rivers of any considerable
size being brown, turbid streams), but below the junc-
ture with the Missouri all the way to the sea it assumes
the Missouri colour, a deep yellow brown caused by
the friable banks, which all along the Mississippi-Missouri
system keep falling into the water, something in the
same way as we have already described, as charac-
teristic of the Lower Indus.

Wherever there are high perpendicular clay banks
upon rivers, it may be assumed that the stream, espe-
cially in the concave portion of curves, is there eating
away its banks, their perpendicular character being
the result of such falls. The water mines them under-
neath, and soon the top cracks off and falls into the
stream; the loose material is then gradually washed
away by the river, in the form of sediment, which
causes the waters to be mud-coloured. With a slug-
gish stream the banks generally fall slowly, but when
there is a powerful and rapid current setting strongly
against a clay bank (especially if it be formed of
alluvial sands and mould) it is sure to fall more or

THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. 541

less rapidly. Thus on the Indus, the Missouri and the
Lower Mississippi these falls are of continual occur-
rence. They are also often seen on the Nile, the
Amazon, and other great rivers.

Now, on the Upper Mississippi, this phenomenon
is generally wanting, and we do not remember ever
to have seen the banks falling in this way there. In
the next place the whole of the Lower Mississippi and
a great portion of the Missouri is a river flowing
through its " Plains Track," that is to say, the level
plains of the surrounding country come up to the
very edge of the river, here (in the Lower Mississippi
portion) mostly covered in former days by the prim-
eval forest, whereas to the northward of its junction
with the Missouri, the Upper Mississippi enters its
"Valley Track" and runs through a deep wide val-
ley, several miles in breadth, from crest to crest of its
bluffs, with the clear water stream of the river, here
not generally very deep except during floods, flowing
through its midst. The scenery in this part of the
Mississippi often presents a series of views, alike most
striking and beautiful, whereas on its lower portion
the scenery is very uninteresting and monotonous. It
is a grand river, but as soon as the impression of
its vastness, which at first sight always impresses the
stranger, has worn off, there is very little worth seeing
upon it, all the way from St. Louis to the Gulf of
Mexico. The inundations from the Mississippi in former
days were very destructive and covered vast areas of some
of the richest lands in North America. These visitations
have however now been controlled in a great measure by
the construction of enormous banks (called levees) enclos-
ing the stream and confining it to its proper channel. It

542 MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.

therefore often happens in flood time that steamers on
the river sail many feet above the natural level of the
surrounding country. Indeed in accordance with a
common characteristic of sediment bearing rivers, the
banks are generally highest at the edge of the stream
itself, which thus apparently follows a low ridge running
through the bottom lands. * The " levees " therefore,
are merely artificial additions made to this natural
ridge. But occasional bursts in these constructions
sometimes still lay many square miles under water
and destroy much crop and property. Thus in 1874 a
great flood occurred, which caused terrible suffering
and losses to inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley. In
consequence of the flat nature of the country, these
floods spread with great rapidity, and in the States of
Mississippi and Louisiana soon cover large areas.

Owing to the friable nature of its banks and the
constant falls of earth from them, the Lower Mississippi
is a particularly muddy stream ; for. long periods trje
.sediment held in suspension is to the water nearly
as i in 1500 by weight, or as i in 2900 by bulk, f
Yet it makes excellent drinking water. A glass of
water taken from this river is usually so thick
that it is almost opaque, but when allowed to stand,
the earthy particles quickly fall to the bottom, leaving
the water perfectly clear, bright, and tasteless. In
former days at New Orleans no other water was used
for drinking purposes, and perhaps it may be so still,
the mighty flood of the great river being so vast and
the stream so powerful, that impurities are quickly

* See Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, VoL xvi., pp. 518 — 519 (Art.
"Mississippi River").
f Ibid., p. 520.

THE BAR -OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 543

swept away, and become disinfected by infiltration with
the earthy particles so thickly suspended in the water.
The same remarks hold good with regard to the Amazon,
the Indus, and many other great rivers.

The quantities of sediment carried down to the sea
by the Mississippi are something enormous. Observa-
tions show that the sedimentary deposits annually carried
into the Gulf are equal to a prism one mile square by
263 feet thick, besides heavier matters which are pushed
along the bottom equal to another square mile 27 feet
thick : * so that for many miles from its mouth, the Gulf
of Mexico is coloured brown by the river water. The
delta of the Mississippi is also perceptibly increasing
in size, and the bar at its mouth is estimated to travel
out to sen at rates varying from 20 to 100 yards a
year, f As new bars are successively formed to sea-
ward of the old, the sediment which formed the old
one is again lifted up by the current and carried fur-
ther out to sea.

The natural bar of the Mississippi had only 15 feet
of water upon it, § but this has been increased to
30 feet by engineering works, executed by the
United States Government since 1875. The rise of the
tides, which generally affords such material aid to
shipping in the passage of bars, is here unfortunately
very small, the vertical rise of spring tides on the S.
W. passage being only i Va feet. ** This has therefore
always created a great obstruction to navigation, for

* Encycl. Brit., 9th Edition., Vol. xvi., p. 526 (Art. "Mississippi
River ").'

f The Physical Geography of the Sea, by Lieut. M. F. Maury,
U.S.N., i6th Edition, 1877, p. 190.

§ Ibid., p. 190.

** Norie's Navigation, 2 1st Edition. Table xvii, Times of High
Water at Spring Tides, p. 354.

544 GREAT DEPTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

ships entering the Mississippi, but the moment that a
vessel is inside the bar she is in deep water, quite
four or five times the depth of that on the bar. *

Sir Charles Lyell in his remarks upon Mississippi
phenomena notices the fact, that strikes every observant
traveller, that the Mississippi is a river having a nearly
uniform breadth from its mouth to St. Paul, a distance
of 2000 miles from the sea, and Sir C. Lyell asserts
that this majestic river for considerable sections of its
course cuts a bed for itself out of the soil to a depth
of more than 200 feet below the top of the bar, which
obstructs its entrance to the sea. f

The depth of portions of the channel of the Missis-
sippi is often very great, sometimes even amounting
to as much as 250 feet, while at other points obstruc-
tions occur which seriously impede the safe navigation
of the river, owing to the fact that throughout its
great alluvial plains-track the stream is continually
shifting its course. Steamers ascending or descending
the river must therefore be guided by river pilots,
who have intimate local knowledge of these changes,
as banks frequently form, which sometimes entirely
close the old channel, while the current rapidly exca-
vates a new one in another place. A large number
of changes occur in this way every season and require
constant watching by specially trained pilots, especially
upon the Missouri.

Another of the dangers incident to navigation on the
Mississippi-Missouri system is that arising from what
are known as "snags."

* Physical Geography of the Sea, by Lieut. M. F. Maury, U.S.N.,
1 6th Edition, 1877, p. 190.

y Principles of Geology, by Sir Charles Lyell. Edition of 1867,
Vol. i., pp. 440 — i.

"SNAGS." 545

In former days, when the river was margined by
primeval forests, gigantic trees used frequently to become
undermined by the falling of the banks, and as these
fell into the river they became engulfed by the stream
by which in a short time they were completely stripped
of their leaves and branches, and often lay entirely
covered by water, with their heads pointing down
stream, like so many lances poised to impale unwary
steamboats.

When a steamer ran against one of these snags
the point at once penetrated the lightly built wooden
hull, and the pressure of the swiftly on-rushing steamer
caused the snag to rise up as she came on to it, until
the whole fabric of the vessel was sometimes com-
pletely transfixed, as a lance will impale a man. The
ragged stem of a gigantic pine, forced through the
bottom of the vessel by the momentum of a powerful
steamboat, which often came crashing with deadly
force through state rooms and cabins, crowded with
passengers, as may be supposed proved a terribly
destructive agent, and immense numbers of Mississippi
steamboats have from time to time been destroyed by
such accidents. Heavily laden boats transfixed in this
way generally quickly sank, and great loss of life
from drowning was of frequent occurrence, in addition
to numerous and severe personal injuries to people on
board the unlucky boats. As the water is too thick
to be able to see anything submerged beneath it, it
was often very hard to detect the presence of a snag,
until the vessel actually struck upon it. The pilots
however, who are always perched high above the water
in pilot-houses erected for this special purpose, were
very quick and clever at detecting indications of danger.

VOL. II. 35

546 DANGERS TO STEAMBOATS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

Snags sometimes bob or vibrate up and down with
the force of the stream, alternately showing* their ends
above water and then dipping beneath it again, but
most of them remain permanently below the surface,
except perhaps at quite low water.

The presence of a snag however, fortunately gener-
ally betrays itself by a peculiar ripple in the water,
which to a practised eye serves to mark the danger
which lurks beneath. In former days, before the heavy
forest was cut down, when snags were much more
numerous than they are at present, it was sometimes
necessary to lay boats up at night in the worst parts
of the river, where these sunken obstacles were known
to be numerous, as no amount of watchful care could
detect their presence in the darkness, and the terrors
of a possible snag, at any moment coming crashing
through cabins occupied by sleeping passengers, proved
something more than even the nerves of the reckless
Yankee could endure.

Ever since the introduction of steamboats upon the
Mississippi, their history has been marked by numerous
disasters and incidents, replete with thrilling adventures
and hair-breadth escapes, from wrecks, fires, and boiler
explosions. The dangerous system of racing between
the boats of rival companies accounts for most of the
latter class of these so-called accidents, but the flimsy
construction of the boats themselves, generally built
(at least in former days) entirely of pine, rendered a
swiftly moving river-boat about as combustible a col-
lection of materials as could well be imagined. These
disastrous conflagrations, it is generally supposed, mostly
arose from sparks proceeding from the wood fires, falling
from the smoke-stacks (as they were termed) among

STEAMBOATS DESTROYED BY FIRE.

547

the cargo, which, being fanned by the breeze, quickly
converted the entire vessel into a raging mass of flames,
in which hecatombs of victims frequently found a fiery
tomb, or were swept away by the swiftly flowing river
in the vain attempt to swim to land. The suddenness
with which these fires have been known to break out
and envelop the boats was sometimes indeed appalling,
and left no time for them to run ashore before the
pilot was driven from his post by the rush of smoke
and flame.

The gloomy roll of some of these catastrophes has
nevertheless been occasionally lit up by a ray of glory,
in consequence of the deeds of heroic daring and
self-sacrifice which have not unfrequently been per-
formed by pilots, engineers and others belonging to
these boats, in the desperate endeavour to save the
lives of those on board, and more than one instance
is on record where these men have actually remained
at their posts until burnt alive in the execution of
their duty. One well known case was that of
Thomas Maynard, a sailor on board a steamer which
(in this case) took fire upon the lakes, through whose
devotion all on board except himself were saved, he
having managed to steer the vessel long enough to
run her safe ashore before he himself fell back a
lifeless corpse into the flames. Another well told and
characteristic story of this kind (very likely founded
on the case mentioned above) is to be found among
Hay's Pike County Ballads. The hero in this case is
supposed to be the engineer of the steamer "Prairie
Belle" who bears the suggestive name of "Jimmy
Bludso," and portions of it are, we think, quite worth
transcribing, as a specimen of Mississippi River man-

548 "JIMMY BLUDSO."

ners and dialect. The tale is supposed to be told in
reply to a query as to " What had become of Jim.9

"Wall no! I can't tell whar he lives,

Becase he don't live you see ;
Leastways, he's got out of the habit

Of livin' like you and me.
Whar have you been for the last three year

That you haven't heard folks tell
How Jimmy Bludso passed his checks,

The night of the Prairie Belle?"

(The ballad then goes on to describe the reckless
character which its hero bore upon the river, during
life, and thus proceeds.)

"All boats has their day on the Mississip,

And her day come at last.
The Movastar was a better boat,

But the Belle she wouldn't be passed:
And so she come tearin' along that night —

The oldest craft on the line —
With a nigger squat on her safety valve,

And her furnace crammed rosin and pine.

"The fire bust out as she clared the bar

And burnt a hole in the night
And quick as a flash, she turned and made

For that wilier-bank on the right.
There was runnin' and cursin', but Jim yelled out,.

Over all the infernal roar,
'I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank,

Till the last galoot's ashore.'

" Through the hot, black breath of the burnin' boat

Jim Bludso's voice was heard,
And they all had trust in his cussedness,
And knowed he would keep his word.

THE PLAINS-TRACK OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 549

And, sure's you're born, they all got off,

Afore the smoke-stacks fell —
And Bludso's ghost went up alone

In the smoke of the Prairie Belle." *

Jimmy Bludso is the type of a hard living, reckless
spirit, such as may be found by dozens upon the banks
of the great river, their mouths full, it may be, of
oaths and other coarse expletives, and yet their hearts
are capable of lofty deeds of self-sacrifice at the
shrine of patriotism and duty, such as are worthy of
all admiration. The epitaph of such a one may be
justly summed up, in the words contained in the last
verse of this ballad:

"He weren't no saint, — but at jedgement

I'd run my chance with Jim
' Longside of some pious gentlemen

That wouldn't shook hands with him." j

The mighty flood of the great river sweeps onward
with great velocity throughout its entire course, eroding
its banks in the bends and rebuilding them on the
points, and yet the fall of its channel is often very
slight for long distances. Thus the Mississippi at the
point where the Red River falls into it, 316 miles
above "the passes," or sea mouth, is only 5.2 feet
above the level of the Gulf of Mexico at the lowest
-stage of the water. §

" The river channel along this section is therefore a fresh
^water lake, nearly without islands, 2600 feet wide and 100

* Pike County Ballads and other Pieces, by John Hay, Boston, 1875,
pp. 17 et sequitur.

t Ibid.) first four lines of last verse.

§ Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xvi., p. 520.

550 THE MISSISSIPPI AT NEW ORLEANS.

feet deep. At the flood state the water rises 50 feet at the
mouth of the Red River, but of course retains its level at
the Gulf thus giving the head necessary to force forward
the increased volume of the discharge.'' *

We are careful to note this circumstance because it
furnishes an explanation of the phenomenon of a re-
sistless torrent, flowing" like a mill-race through a dead
flat country, such as exists both on the Mississippi and
the Ganges during flood time, upon the last section of
their respective courses. The Mississippi floods are
generally at their highest in April, and the level of
the river falls to its lowest point, as a rule, in
October.

Sir Charles Lyell gives a careful and accurately
prepared account of the Mississippi, which he visited
for purposes of scientific observation, during his geo-
logical tour in America, and he states that according
to the most recent U.S. Government surveys, the
area of its delta is about 12,300 square miles, f

The average depth of fluviatile formation in this area
is supposed to be somewhat more than 500 feet, for
in borings made near Lake Pontchartrain, not far from
the city of New Orleans, the bottom of the alluvial
deposit was said not to have been reached, even at
600 feet. § This of course goes to show that all this
territory has by degrees been built up by the great
river, upon what was formerly a deep water area of
the Gulf of Mexico, The work of construction is still
going on, and year after year the river bar, as we
have already explained, is pushed further and further

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xvi., p. 520.

f Principles of Geology, by Sir Chas. Lyell, 1867, Vol. i., p. 458.

§ Report of Surveys of 1861, by Messrs. Humphreys and Abbot.

"THE PASSES" OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 551

out to sea. The formation of the Mississippi delta at
its most southern or seaward part, is of the most curi-
ous and remarkable character, consisting here of

" a long narrow tongue of land protruding nearly 50 miles
into the Gulf of Mexico, and terminating in several arms or
' passes, ' which have a fan-shaped arrangement, the S.W.
pass (at the time of Sir Chas. Lyell's visit) being that through
which all the water was poured out, while each of the others
has by turns at some former period been the principal channel
of discharge. This tongue of land consists simply of two
low banks, covered with reeds, young poplars and willows,
and in appearance answers precisely to those of the river
in the alluvial plain." *

The principal mouths by which the water finds exit
to the sea are the South West pass (spoken of above),
the South pass, the North East pass, and the Pass a
Loutre ; of these the South West pass is that by which
sea-going ships enter the Mississippi at present.

An examination of a good atlas will show the ex-
ceedingly remarkable character of the formation at
the terminal arms of this delta, and will quite repay
the reader for a few moments' careful examination.
Lake Pontchartrain, the large and curious lake formed
to the eastward of New Orleans, is evidently a " cut
off," formed by the river out of the bed of the sea.

An enormous area of swamp land extends up along
the alluvial plain of the Mississippi for nearly 500 miles
from its mouth. These bottom lands have an average
width of some 40 miles, and their total area is estimated
at about 32,000 square miles, of which comparatively
little has as yet been reclaimed. A narrow strip

* Principles of Geology, by Sir Chas. Lyell, 1867, Vol. i., p. 447.

552 CROPS ON THE MISSISSIPPI BOTTOM-LANDS.

along the river is all that has ever yet been brought
under cultivation.

Here therefore is a great region, still almost in a
state of nature, which under an efficient system of
protection against flood, will doubtless in future years
provide an almost inexhaustible field for agricultural
enterprise, where an enormous extent of crops of the
most valuable character could be raised. It has been
estimated that by this means 2-J millions of acres of
the richest sugar lands, seven millions of acres of the
best cotton lands, and at least one million acres of
corn lands of unsurpassed fertility would be thrown
open to the use of mankind. *

Well may Americans entertain a boundless faith in
the future wealth and greatness of their country ! There
is no speculation which in the end proves so remun-
erative as the work of reclamation and cultivation of
a fertile soil, and " there is no treasury so reliable as
a granary of surplus products. " f The precious metals
and other arbitrary standards of value may rise or
fall ever so much in value, but the rapidly growing
population of the earth must be fed, and blessed is
the lot of that country whose store-houses are con-
tinually overflowing with the surplus garnerings of
a bountiful harvest. We say so, in the teeth of
the present temporary depression of the agricultural
interest.

When the renowned French explorer, the Cavalier
De La Salle, first made his famous discovery of the
Great West, and issued from the forests upon the

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xvi., pp. 518-519. (Art. "Mississippi
River").

f The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom, by P. L.
Simmonds, 1854, p. 2/1.

LA SALLE ON THE MISSISSIPPI. 553

banks of the majestic Father of Waters * (near the con-
fluence of the Missouri, with the Mississippi) both he
and his followers were vastly impressed by the spacious
grandeur of the mighty stream which they saw before
them, swiftly drifting towards unknown destinies, and
embarking upon its waters they floated day after
day down its turbid flood, until they reached the
ocean.

The earlier discoveries of the Spaniards f had thus
far led to little or no result, but La Salle at once
appreciated the magnitude of his success. His reports
to the French court of Louis XIV. caused the matter
to be warmly taken up and the first settlement was
thus made on the Mississippi. From that day to this
the Mississippi has rapidly increased in importance, as
a great highway of commerce from the far interior to
the ocean, and is now rightly esteemed one of the
leading glories of the American Union. Great in peace,
it promises to be no less great in war, and though
the defence of its embouchure in some respects presents
peculiar difficulties, according to Captain Mahan, u.s.N.
(the writer of a recent remarkable work upon " The
Influence of Sea Power upon History ") the advantages
of the Mississippi are such "that the main effort of the
country must pour down that valley, and its permanent
base of operations be found there," in case of naval
operations in the Caribbean Sea. §

If the Mississippi System forms a crown of glory to
the United States, another no less noble stream, which

* A.D. 1682, February 6th.
t Under Ferdinand de Soto, 1541.

§ The Influence of Sea Power on History, by Capt. A. T. Mahan,
U.S.N., 1890, p. 34.

554 THE ST- LAWRENCE RIVER.

opens up a waterway of unsurpassed grandeur through
the Dominion of Canada, fitly represents the Imperial
power of Great Britain in North America.

The mighty river St. Lawrence is one of those rare
instances of a river, whose estuary is so perfect in
form that it issues unobstructed to the ocean, without
the usual defect of a sand barrier thrown up by the
lap of the surge at its junction with the stream. Taken
in connection with the great lakes, the St. Lawrence
affords the most magnificent system of inland naviga-
tion in the world, and the approximate area of its
basin is estimated at 510,000 square miles, of which
322,500 belong to Canada and 187,440 to the United
States. * It is usually accounted that the head- waters of
the St. Lawrence are represented by the St. Louis River,
which discharges into Lake Superior at Fond-du-Lac;
if we accept this as so, the distance from the sources
of the St. Louis to Cape Gaspe at the Gulf, is but
some 2100 miles. The St. Lawrence is pre-eminent
therefore not on account of the great length of the
cross section of its basin, but because of its enormous
catchment reservoirs — the great lakes. It is however
a fact worthy of notice that the River St. Louis, its
reputed head, springs from the same plateau in Min-
nesota, that gives birth to its rival the Mississippi, as
well as to another important stream, the Red River ot
the North, f which is comprised among that remark-
able system of inland waters which issue via Lake
Winnipeg into the Hudson's Bay, by the Nelson River.

Volumes might be written upon the wonderful
physical geography of the great St. Lawrence system,

* Encycl. Brit., 9th Edition, Vol. xxi., p. 177-8. (Art. "St. Lawrence".}
•f Ibid., p. 178.

THE GREAT LAKES AND NIAGARA RIVER. 555

and the vast chain of inland seas, which form incompar-
ably the largest body of fresh water in the world,
which issue by it to the sea.

It may be convenient to give a few technical details-
respecting these great lakes, which form so striking
a feature of the North American continent.

Area
in sq. miles.

Approximate
size in
sq. miles.

Maximum
depth in ft.

Altitude
in ft. over

sea-level.

Lake Superior

31,200

412 X 167

1008

602

Lake Huron

21,000

263 X 101

702

581

Lake Michigan

22,450

345 X 84

870

581

Lake Erie

9,960

250 X 60

210

573

Lake Ontario

7,240

190 X 54

738

247 *

Lake Huron, as we know, issues by the St. Clair
River and Lake, into Lake Erie, and the small lake
seen upon the map, located midway between them and
marked as "St. Clair Lake," is itself 29 miles long,
and has an estimated area of something like 700 square
miles.

Then there is the renowned Niagara River leading
from Lake Erie to Ontario, over the great falls of that
name, whose grandeur fills every spectator with awe
and admiration, but whose aspects are so well known
that we shall not inflict upon our readers a further
description of them. Suffice it to say that the
total descent from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario is
326 feet, f

Shipping ascends via the Welland Canal, on the
Canadian side, which has a length of 27 miles, and 25

* Encycl. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xxi., p. 182.
f Ibid., Vol. xxi., p. 182.

55 6 THE NAVIGABLE CHANNEL OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.

locks. It is from Lake Ontario that, as everybody is
aware, the St. Lawrence River (properly so called)
leads down to the ocean. The point of exit is at
Kingston, an important town and strategic point of
Canadian territory, strongly fortified, shortly below
which come the well-known " Thousand Islands " a section
of river scenery celebrated for its almost unrivalled
beauty. *

From Kingston the St. Lawrence runs a course of
about 728 miles to Cape Gaspe, which is usually and
as we believe correctly accounted its sea mouth, though
some writers have insisted upon regarding the Straits
of Bellisle as the true St. Lawrence mouth, which
would give it an additional length of about 436 miles.
The head of ocean navigation is at Montreal, a point
178 miles below Kingston, and 550 from Gaspe, the
river being obstructed by the Lachine Rapids a short
distance beyond that town, so that ships have to pass
through the Lachine Canal to avoid them. But as far
as Montreal large ships can ascend without obstruction.
The influence of the tides ascends to Three Rivers,
68 miles above Quebec, where during spring tides a
rise of 3 or 4 inches occurs; but their effects soon
become totally lost in Lake St. Peter, a short distance
above that town, f It is at Quebec however that the1
large transatlantic steamers usually stop and disembark
their passengers. The place itself is full of interest,
and all who can do so should make it a point to remain
there for three or four days in order to visit the principal
points of interest in and around the city.

* What are known as The Thousand Islands in reality consist of
an archipelago of not less than 1692 islands of all sizes, great and small.

7 Admiralty Sailing Directions — The St. Lawrence River Pilot, Vol.
i-> P- 3°7- (Official Publication).

QUEBEC. 557

The historic fortress of Quebec may be said to be
located at the head of the sea estuary of the St.
Lawrence, where it stands like a lion in the path to
bar the way to all intruders. The position is remark-
able both for its enormous natural strength (in conse-
quence of which it has been sometimes termed the
Gibraltar of North America) and also for its singular
beauty. From its summit where the frowning battle-
ments of the renowned citadel overlook the river from
an eminence of some 320 feet, splendid views of forest
and river scenery are obtainable, and we feel sure that
those who have been privileged to contemplate their
unrivalled grandeur will always treasure in their memory
the recollection of Quebec, as one of the fairest and
most striking scenes that the traveller's eye can meet
with.

Nor is Quebec less great in its historical than in its
scenic interest, for it was here, as we know, that the
issues of the great struggle between Great Britain and
France for the Empire of the West were finally decided.
We trust therefore we shall not be considered either
too tedious or discursive if we venture to invite our
reader to accompany us in spirit to the ramparts of
Quebec in order to take a brief survey of the surround-
ings. For this purpose we are supposed to pause for
a few moments, looking down from the citadel upon
the great river, whose mighty flood bathes the base
of the cliff upon which the fortress is perched, which
here forms an immense headland rising abruptly out
of the swirling waters just at the juncture of the river
St. Charles with the St. Lawrence, greatly narrowing
the tideway of the last-named river at this point, so
that its stream is here but little more than half a mile

558 PANORAMA SEEN FROM QUEBEC RAMPARTS.

in breadth. The current however runs swiftly, and
(as usual in river gorges) its depth is very great, the
water abreast the city being 28 fathoms deep, while
immediately above it the river again expands to what
may then be considered its normal width of a mile
and a quarter broad, with a channel still 28 fathoms
in depth. Below Quebec, between the city and the
Island of Orleans, however, the St. Lawrence entirely
changes its character and here assumes that of an
extensive basin or roadstead, which forms a commodious
harbour, where an immense fleet of the largest ships
can lie at anchor. The sea estuary may be said to
commence at this point, and the rise of its spring tides
is here 18 feet. *

Looking down from the citadel in this direction a
noble prospect is spread out before the beholder, as
the eye travels over a wide panorama of land and water
enclosed in the distance by lofty hills. To the south
the fortified bluffs of Point Levi occupy the opposite
bank of the St. Lawrence, while the approaches to
Quebec from the rear, to the northwards, are guarded
by the rocky gorge of the St. Charles River. East-
wards the northern shore is seen covered with numerous
villas and white houses which extend down the river
to the vicinity of the falls of Montmorenci.

These celebrated falls which plunge over a precipice
nearly 250 feet high, close to the point where the river
of that name flows into the St. Lawrence, form a leading
.attraction for visitors, and from above them a splendid
view of Quebec in the distance is obtained. It was upon

* Admiralty Sailing Directions — The St. Lawrence River Pilot, 5th
.Edit. 1882. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the
.Admiralty. Vol. i., p. 280.

THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC. 559

these heights that the main body of the British army
under General Wolfe first took up their position for
the siege of the place in 1759, with their front resting
upon the Montmorenci River. The entrenchments of
the French troops at that time extended the whole way
from the falls to the city, a distance by road usually
estimated at about 8 miles. * The original design of
Wolfe was to fight his way to Quebec by this route,
aided by the fire of the fleet. The attempt however
had to be abandoned, and the subsequent attack via
the Heights of Abraham, which was crowned with such
signal success, f was an afterthought, adopted as a last
and desperate expedient, when all hopes of capturing
this hitherto impregnable fortress were well nigh ex-
tinct.

The great difficulty in the path of Wolfe, upon which
Montcalm built his chief hopes of successful defence,
was that the approach of winter, and the closure of
the St. Lawrence by ice, would compel the British to
suspend the attack until the following spring. All
accounts tend to show that the severity of the winters
in these early days of Canadian history, before the
country had been opened up by clearing away the
forest, was far greater than anything experienced at
the present time, human occupation and the cultivation
of the soil having largely modified their former extreme
rigour.

Ice upon the St. Lawrence, at present, seldom or
never freezes across below Quebec, and only occasionally
opposite the city, but the river is full of heavy ice,

* See map of Quebec and its environs in Francis Parkman's Montcalm
dr* Wolfe, 5th Edition, 1885, Vol. ii., facing p. 200, and letterpress
description of same in ibid., pp. 208-9.

f September I3th, 1769.

560 ICE UPON THE ST. LAWRENCE.

moving1 up and down with the tides with irresistible
force. The regular ice bridge is generally located 5
or 6 miles above Quebec, and from thence upwards,
as far as Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence is everywhere
frozen across, except in places where the current is
very strong. * Taking the mean of a number of years
the navigation is closed by ice at Quebec from the
25th of November to the 25th of April, but in the com-
paratively narrow channel there the river is kept open
by the rapid tides, f The break-up of the ice upon
the St. Lawrence in spring is quite one of the sights
of the world to witness, as an example of the irresistible
power of Nature, and has often been made the subject
of description by abler pens than ours. It is generally
preceded by loud noises, sometimes almost resembling
those produced by the firing of heavy artillery, caused
by the cracking of the immense masses' of ice, under
the constantly increasing pressure of the stream, and
finally the great break-up occurs as sudden as the com-
ing of a thief in the night. The iron bonds of winter
are loosened and the mighty river flows again. The
accumulations of pack ice at certain points are frequently
of an extraordinary character; partial break-ups occur
during the course of the winter, caused by alterations
of the water level created by the tides and by thaws
and storms ; broken masses of ice thus become heaped
up by the pressure of the moving masses, until they
form a spectacle of the wildest confusion, of which
photographs alone can convey an adequate conception.
Once the final break-up however has taken place in

* Admiralty Sailing Directions — The St. Lawrence River Pilot, com-
piled by Admiral H. W. Bayfield, 5th Edition, 1882, Vol. i., p. 282.
(published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty).

j Ibid., p. 3.

THE SEA ESTUARY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 561

spring, the ice masses are quickly carried out to sea,
and disappear, and the navigation becomes open again.
This sudden transition from winter to spring is one
of the most striking phenomena of Canadian life. To-day,
the country is one vast expanse of ice and snow:
to-morrow the streams beg'in to flow, the canopy of
snow dissolves, grasses and wild flowers immediately
begin to make their appearance, and the voice of the bird
is heard again, as flight after flight of these beautiful
creatures wing their way overhead to wards their nesting
grounds in the frozen north.

The estuary of the St. Lawrence begins, as we have
said, at Quebec, from which point the river gradually
expands in shape like the mouth of a funnel, until
it reaches the sea. This may be regarded as Nature's
most perfect form of river estuary, and the few rivers
which possess estuaries thus formed are generally free
from bars. Of these the St. Lawrence is undoubtedly
the finest example.* Those of the Thames, the Severn
and the Scheldt however afford minor instances of the
same kind. Proceeding down the river from Quebec,
after passing the Isle of Orleans (which we have already
mentioned as enclosing the splendid harbour of Que-
bec), the channel has already expanded to a width of
1 1 miles, and at the mouth of the Saguenay, 1 30 miles
below the city, it is 16 miles wide. This river is the
most important tributary of the lower St. Lawrence,
the last 50 miles of its course forming a magnificent
estuary, or mountain loch, enclosed almost everywhere

* The estuary of the Congo in Western Africa is however now
ascertained to be another great example of a river whose sea entrance
is unobstructed by a bar, and the depth of water for some distance
up its channel is enormous.

VOL. II. 36

562 THE CLIFFS OF THE SAGUENAY.

by precipitous headlands, which rise abruptly from
its depths to heights in some places exceeding
1000 feet.

The mouth of the Saguenay is generally held to
be one of the finest pieces of cliff scenery in the
world, the awe-inspiring grandeur of its beetling preci-
pices and the deep shadows which they cast upon its
boiling eddies, have given rise to the most extravagant
exaggerations respecting the rapidity of its currents,
its whirlpools and unfathomable depths, which were
incorporated into the earlier accounts of this river. The
Admiralty survey of it, first made in 1829, di£ much
however to dissipate these inflated descriptions, while
officially acknowledging the grandeur of its scenery,
which though wild and barren is still full of sublimity
and beauty. *

After passing the mouth of the Saguenay, as a
glance at the map will show, the great river continues
growing steadily wider, until at Cape Chat, 260 miles
below Quebec, it has attained a width of 30 miles,
which then rapidly increases to double that amount,
some 30 miles further to seaward. The true mouth
of the St. Lawrence is generally placed near Cape
Gaspe, a point some 390 miles below Quebec, where
the distance from shore to shore is 80 miles, f but this
is still a distance of 436 miles before entering the
Atlantic from which it is separated by the immense
landlocked " Bay of St. Lawrence, " which of itself

* See Admiralty Sailing Directions — The St. Lawrence River Pilot,
1882, Vol. i., p. 297. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty.

•j- The channel is here obstructed by the island of Anticosti. The
South Channel from thence to the Gaspe territory at Cape de Rosiere
is 45 miles wide. The Channel to the north of the Island to the
Labrador coast is only 15-$- miles in width.

THE BIRD ROCKS. 563

forms a sea of no mean capacity and at the south-
west entrance to which the Magdalen Islands are
situated.

These islands are noted as including in their archi-
pelago two celebrated rocks known to navigators as
the "Bird Rocks," which consist of splendid and almost
perpendicular cliffs of red sandstone, forming the home
of countless legions of sea birds, whose extraordinary
numbers have caused these islands to be thus named.
From the earliest periods of Canadian history the " Bird
Rocks" have attracted the attention of all observers.
Throughout the British Colonial records from the time
of the conquest downwards they have constantly lived
in story, and to all appearance are likely to do so
for generations yet to come. So peculiar an object of
interest had they become, that 1 20 years ago, we read,
it was quite a usual practice for ships arriving from
Europe to salute the august presence of the New World
(whose threshold is here guarded by these fastnesses of
Nature) with a gun, as the ship neared these historic
rocks. * Immediately, we are told, the air was filled
with innumerable hosts of birds, whose legions literally
darkened the sky, and whose discordant cries swelled
into so vast a volume of sound as almost to deafen
the spectator.

Contrary to the usual course of history, the descend-
ants of these feathered tribes still maintain their posi-
tion in apparently almost undiminished numbers. Time
has dealt lightly with them, Nature having protected
their stronghold from intrusion, by means of inacces-

* See Anbury's Travels in America, 1791, Vol. i., chap. i. (The author
was an officer in the British service, during the war against the
revolted colonies).

564 THE BANKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

sible cliffs. Admiral Bayfield, compiler of the Admiralty
Sailing Directions for ships entering the St. Lawrence,
assures us that even still

" every ledge and fissure of the cliffs is occupied by gannets,
and the summit of both rocks is literally covered with them.
The white plumage of these birds gives these rocks the appear-
ance of being capped with snow, and renders them visible
through a night glass, in a clear and moonlight night, for
the distance of 7 or 8 miles." *

After passing these islands we at length reach the
open sea and glide over the actual borders of that great
ocean which for so many ages baffled the efforts of
the ancient mariners in their attempts to traverse its
liquid expanse, at that time supposed to extend in
illimitable magnitude towards the setting sun. Leaving
Newfoundland to the northwards, the passenger sails
across the great banks of Newfoundland, celebrated
for their cod fisheries, concerning which we hope
in our section on Fishing to add some details of
interest. Meanwhile, as we go forth into the pathless
sea we reach the limits which we have laid down for
ourselves in our description of the Great River Systems
of the World. As we have gone along we have
briefly sketched the leading features of what seemed
to us a typical series of the most prominent among
these " great drainage works " of Nature ; and in closing
this chapter, we venture to point out the enormous
strategic and commercial importance which the control
of the principal waterways into the heart of great
continents has always exercised upon the past history

* Admiralty Sailing Directions — The St. Lawrence River Pilot, 1882,
Vol. i., p. 40. Published by Order of the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty. See also, The Admiralty Chart of The Magdalen Islands —
No. 1134.

IMPORTANCE OF INLAND WATER-WAYS. 565

of the world. Nowhere has this been more forcibly
exhibited than in the case of the river St. Lawrence,
the great river whose ship channel we have just
described. As long, for instance, as the French held
their sea and river communications open, via the St.
Lawrence, Great Britain could do nothing against them.
Every effort on the part of the latter ended in defeat
and failure. But on the other hand the moment the sea
power of Great Britain, towards the middle of last
century, succeeded in severing that line of communi-
cation, the French power in Canada dwindled and finally
collapsed in toto. These great lessons ought never
to be lost sight of by the British people.

The navy must not merely be regarded as the
first line of defence to the British Islands. It is that,
but is also much more than that; for sea power is the
only safe and stable basis of a great Colonial Empire.
The sea ought never to be regarded by Britons as a
source of weakness, which (as the foreigner delights to
put it) divides her empire : but rather as a great liquid
highway which unites every colony and dependency
to the mother-land. — That being so — and history is
full of precedents which demonstrate the truth of this
axiom — it therefore follows, that in the weighty words
of a late first Sea-Lord of the Admiralty—

" A navy which is not strong enough to defend our vital
interests in time of need, is not worth its cost, whatever it
may be; and a navy which is strong enough to defend us
is cheap whatever its cost may be. The dearest navy England
can have is a weak navy : the only cheap navy, is a navy
strong enough to defend her." *

* Precis paragraphs from a letter (signed V) appearing in The Times
of June 17, 1896, p. 4 on "The Naval Manoeuvres."

566 IMPORTANCE OF INLAND WATER-WAYS.

We venture to call attention to these precedents,
because many of the same questions that met the
British in North America 150 years ago seem to be
cropping up again to-day : thus the command of the sea
and also of the great internal channels of water
communication are for instance sure to exercise a
high degree of importance in the opening up of the
great continent of Africa, through the central portion
of which the wild, inhospitable nature of the country
and the density of its wide expanse of equatorial
forests, places a practical bar upon all other means
of communication. So again under the influence of
British engineering skill and capital, there can be
little doubt that in Egypt a navigable waterway for
boats of considerable size will in time be constructed
from the Mediterranean to the great Central African
Lakes. We have every hope that this will one day be
carried into effect, via the River Nile, by our engineers.

END OF VOLUME II.

FOURTEEN DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWE

This book is due on the last date stamped below, Of
on the date to which renewed.

till lilt *a«**.v •

Renewed books are sub ject toimmediatejecaU.

General Library ,
University of California
Berkeley